Galway City Council is currently developing just one social housing scheme according to the latest figures released by the government this week.
It has emerged that the Fána an tSrutháin development in Ballyburke, Knocknacarra is the only site being developed at present by the council in the entire city for social housing.
Official figures released by the Department of Housing this week detailing “social housing new-build activity” for the final quarter of 2025 seemingly indicate that 758 social houses where under construction in Galway city at this time.
However, the raw data provided by the Department includes several projects that had already been completed – for over three years in some cases – or that had not yet been given final approval.
When houses actually under construction are counted, the figures show that just 119 social homes were in the process of being built in the city in the final three months of 2025.
Out of this number, 84 of these units were being constructed directly by the council as part of the Fána an tSrutháin rapid-build development in Knocknacarra which is using prefabricated modular constructions.
This site is still under construction and no other social housing schemes have been commenced by the council since the start of 2026.
Of the other units that were under construction at the end of last year, 23 were being built as “turnkey” acquisitions for independent Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs ) and six were being built as “turnkey” sites for the council.
A “turnkey” is where a council or AHB either buys a completed new unit from a developer or agrees to fund a developer who might have planning permission to build the housing, and they are acquired when finished.
A further six social houses were being constructed under the CAS scheme, whereby funding is given to AHBs to acquire housing for specific priority groups, including the elderly or disabled.
This comes after figures released by the Department last month showed that Galway City Council had directly built just five new social houses in 2025 – the lowest number of any local authourity in the state.
