The Galway City Council has been allocated €12.5 million to build 57 new homes in the east of the city. The funding is provided by the Department of Housing, under the Rebuilding Ireland Local Authority Housing Construction Programme.
Under the allocation, €10.7 million will fund the construction of 50 new homes including four one-bedroom, 16 two-bedroom, 26 three-bedroom, and four four-bedroom houses off the Monivea Road near Rocklands Avenue. A further €1.78 million will fund seven new two-bedroom homes at a site in Ballybrit, near Ballybrit Court. This development is ear-marked for older people.
The Minister for Community Development, Natural Resources, and Digital Development, and Fine Gael Galway West TD, Seán Kyne, has welcomed the allocation as "very welcome and necessary" as it will "provide new accommodation for more than 50 families in Galway". The proposed projects were submitted by the city council in early January. A design team will be appointed immediately and the planning process commenced.
While there will be a broad welcome for the new houses, critics will point out that even 50 new homes will not go anywhere near tackling Galway's housing waiting list. Officially there are 5,000 households on the housing waiting list in Galway - an estimated total of 15,000 people, some of whom are waiting since 2002.
