Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, on his appointment and wish him well in his role. He has hit the ground running in recent months. He has been a great support to me since I entered this House. I have great confidence in him and I know he will deliver social and affordable housing in Galway and throughout the country.

I welcome the Bill. I am delighted there is cross-party support for it in the House. I understand the Minister will correct the record regarding a number of issues that need to be confirmed.

I will address a few issues raised by previous speakers. I thank the Minister for supporting the position that Galway City Council and Galway County Council should not be merged, which he expressed to me at a meeting in Leinster House nearly two year ago. There has been high demand for rented accommodation in Galway city in recent years. People have settled in towns such as Oranmore and Claregalway and now have children attending school in these places. This has created an anomaly where these people are still on the city housing list even though they have been living in towns up to 10 km from Galway for the past seven, eight or ten years. I ask the Minister to examine that issue. There are two different housing lists and it is causing a difficulty. What all Senators and public representatives require is certainty of tenancy for the future. The people to whom I refer are renting on long-term leases. I will contact the Minister after the debate as I do not want to go into specific cases.

There are great opportunities for affordable and social housing in Galway city and county. We need to deliver houses on the ground in the coming years. I have full confidence that the Minister will do that.