Introducing a cost rental scheme for Galway would "protect renters and deliver a below market rate housing in the city", especially as the private market is "not fulfilling the needs of renters".
This is the view of Green Party candidate for Galway West, Pauline O'Reilly, who was speaking following the Government's unveiled of plans to role out a pilot cost rental scheme in Inchicore, Dublin. She is calling for a similar scheme to be drawn up for Galway, and pointed out that such schemes run in Austria, the Netherlands, and Denmark, all of which "deliver thousands of homes every year". She added: "There is absolutely no reason why we can’t do the same here in Galway."
In March 2018, the Green Party’s Dáil motion calling for thousands of high quality, affordable cost rental units to be developed on State lands was passed by Dáil Éireann.
"We have an abundance of AirBNB, and local government using private landlords to fulfill its obligations for social housing using the HAP scheme," Ms O'Reilly said. "This is predicted to cost the State €3 billion over the next five years. This money should be used directly by local government to build, purchase and retain its own housing stock."
