Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have needed ten minutes to raise this with the Minister of State and the senior Minister, Deputy O'Brien. I do not want to be giving out too much but, with respect, what I got from this answer is that there will be 85 affordable houses built in the lifetime of this Government. We are talking about 17 affordable houses for all of Galway, with a population of 200,000 people. We are moving on to 2026, 2027 and 2028, which is just too far. I do not see the urgency with the executives in either Galway City Council or Galway County Council.

It is not acceptable for the Minister of State to come in and tell me that in the lifetime of this Government, 85 affordable houses will be built, and that this will be part of a planned affordable housing development. I will give the Minister of State an example, of which I am sure he is familiar. Cork City Council and Cork County Council have eight schemes of affordable housing under way at this moment in time and are moving onto the next eight. Galway has a population of 200,000 people and the Minister of State is telling me that 85 affordable houses will be built in the lifetime of this Government. This is not credible.I will not be able to go back to Galway city and give the people there that message because there will be riots in the street. It is very disappointing. I plead with the Minister of State and his Department to contact the officials in Galway City Council and Galway County Council to work with them to see if we can provide more affordable housing. I have acknowledged in my contribution that there is significant social housing, but this should be looked at in comparison with Limerick or Cork. I have given the information on Cork and it is factual. I am disappointed with the Minister of State's answer.