City Councillor Declan McDonnell has warned against changing plans for a 103-home City Council development in Merlin Park to make all of the properties ‘affordable’ — saying that it could set back the building of the badly needed homes by years.
The Independent Councillor said that he supported the principle of providing as many homes as possible under the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme, which helps people on moderate incomes to buy new homes at reduced prices.
But he felt that a suggestion aired recently that all of the homes should be brought under the ’affordable’ umbrella in the proposed Merlin scheme — which currently allows for 85 ‘affordable’ and 18 social houses — was not a good idea.
“I’m all for building as many affordable homes as we can, there is a crying need for them in the city. But if we start changing these plans now, it could delay the building of the whole scheme, possibly for years,” said Cllr McDonnell, who is standing for re-election in the Galway City East electoral area.
“We have already been waiting far too long for this scheme to get off the ground. It’s three years since we as councillors approved the project and progress since then has been at a snail’s pace, which has been frustrating for us but also for the many hundreds of people desperate to get a home of their own.
“Now the project is at last at the final design stage and almost ready to go out for tender. But if we decide to change the plan to make all of the houses affordable, then the whole scheme has to go back to the Department of Housing for new approval and that could take ages,” he added.
“I feel it’s much better than we stick with the current plan, get things moving as quickly as possible and get these houses built. We cannot allow any further delays to happen,” said Cllr McDonnell.
The houses, a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroomed homes, are to be built on a site of almost three hectares, which is bordered by Merlin Park Hospital lands, the Pope John Paul II Centre and Coillte Mhuirlinne. Plans for the development include the provision of a creche.
