Galway greenlights €10m borrowing amid housing affordability row
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The cost of Galway’s affordable homes has come under scrutiny as county councillors approved millions in additional borrowing for new housing developments.
Galway County Council approved an extra €10 million in borrowing for affordable housing projects, bringing the local authority’s total approved borrowing facility to €35 million.
The additional funding will support the delivery of affordable homes amid rising construction costs.
However, several members questioned whether the homes can be described as affordable given the prices involved.
Sinn Féin Cllr Dermot Connolly said many working people are priced out of the market and are at their “wits’ end”.
“We need to get the balance right between social and affordable,” he said.
“People are at their wits’ end. Homes at €425,000 to €475,000 are not affordable to me. It needs to be reviewed. It will be a milestone around their neck until well after retirement.”
Cllr Declan Geraghty (Ind Ire) was also critical of the pricing structure.
“There is no such thing as affordable housing,” he said. “€350,000 is not affordable. Most young people won’t get on the property ladder. You can't buy a house if you are earning €40,000 a year. The specification for houses is lunacy. We have lost the run of ourselves.”
Independent Cllr Karey McHugh Farag described the national affordable housing policy as “fundamentally flawed”, while Cllr Shaun Cunniffe (Ind Ire) argued the subsidy available to buyers “just isn’t enough”.
And Independent Cllr Tom Welby argued that “department officials are living in cloud cuckoo land”.
Despite concerns over affordability, councillors agreed there is significant demand for more housing across Galway.
Fine Gael Cllr Jimmy McClearn described the Athenry scheme as “oversubscribed,” saying expressions of interest had been “off the scale.”
“People are falling between two stools,” he said. They are earning too much to get on the social housing programme and not earning enough to go out into the open market.”
Councillor Michael ‘Moegie’ Maher (FG) said councillors across the county were being “inundated” with requests for affordable housing and called for developments in every Municipal District, while Cllr Mary Hoade (FF) said the loan increase demonstrated a clear “commitment to affordable housing”.
The council said the funding will operate through a revolving facility, allowing construction costs to be paid upfront before loans are repaid through the sale of completed homes and Government housing supports.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.