Mairéad Farrell: Galway housing crisis - emergency beds full
Mairéad Farrell addresses the acute housing emergency in Galway and argues the bill on social housing access will not resolve shortages on the ground. She warns emergency accommodation is full, notices to quit are rising, and local authorities need greater flexibility to acquire properties and to protect medically vulnerable families.
Local impact in Galway
Mairéad Farrell explains that in Galway City and County most people seeking social housing support face extreme difficulty or impossibility. Emergency accommodation is full and people presenting for help are being put on waiting lists, placing severe pressure on local homeless services.
Notices to quit and property acquisitions
Farrell highlights a dramatic rise in notices to quit and reports from Galway City Council of 160 active valid notices. She says many come as properties are sold and argues local authorities should regain flexibility to acquire homes through initiatives such as the tenant in situ scheme, which had been an important prevention tool before funding was cut.
Housing supply and affordability
The speech underlines falling commencements projected for 2025 and 2026 and a shortage of both social housing and affordable private rental options. Farrell refers to Simon Community locked out reports and analysis showing Galway as an unaffordable city for renters, stressing that the data represent real families with no alternatives.
Personal stories and health consequences
Farrell shares the case of a woman, reported today by RTE, who has been homeless with her two sons for two years and is now living in one room. Her eldest son has night terrors and consultants have recommended a separate bedroom, yet the council's medical advice is not being accepted. These examples illustrate the human cost of current policy choices.
Calls for flexible, local responses
She calls for greater flexibility for local authorities to acquire housing, for councils to cooperate across boundaries, and for options beyond one-size-fits-all emergency accommodation so medically vulnerable people can be properly supported.
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This bill deals with access to social housing support and I'm aware that the rules outlined in this bill are already in place in my two local authorities Galway City and Galway County Councils but I do want to talk about the impact of the housing crisis on the people of Galway. For the majority of people who are trying to access social housing support in Galway it is extremely difficult if not impossible. If you're homeless and present for emergency accommodation you have to be put on a waiting list for emergency accommodation because emergency accommodation in Galway is full. It has been this way for years but the government does nothing to offer additional support to the local authorities to deal with this crisis. Notices to quit rose dramatically across the state in the first quarter of this year with over 7,000 notices issued in the first three months of this year and I've been told by Galway City Council that they are dealing with 160 active valid notices to quit. Many of these notices are due to the properties in question being sold. Local authorities should be able to take advantage of this by acquiring the properties through the tenant in situ scheme which was a crucial piece of homeless prevention before funding the scheme was cut. Local authorities should have more flexibility when it comes to acquisitions not less. Particularly in an area like Galway where the communities served by two different local authorities are very intertwined. Councils should be able to work together to meet the housing need of people facing homelessness. In Galway councils are also extremely constrained in terms of housing stock and we have seen that commencements in 2025 and 2026 are on track to fall short of commencement figures in 2024. We need to be increasing these numbers year on year not decreasing them. There are constraints not only on social housing stock but also affordable private rented options so families facing homelessness have no alternatives of places to rent and this is borne out in consecutive locked out reports published by the Simon community which find again and again that there are no affordable private rented units in Galway and surrounding suburbs. It is also borne out in a recent report by a financial website whose analysis show that Galway is the most unaffordable city for renters in Ireland when comparing average wages to average rents and we often talk about facts and figures and statistics but these are real people and behind each and every one of those figures and I want to share some of these stories with you here today Minister. There's one woman I have met whose story was published today by RTE who has been homeless with her two sons for two years. She initially struggled to access emergency accommodation due to the pressure on homeless services in Galway. She's now living in one room with her sons and her oldest child is having a really difficult time like any child in emergency accommodation would but he is now also struggling with night terrors a condition that his mother has advised runs in her family. The boy has been referred to consultants who have been signed off from the council's medical form advising that he needs his own bedroom for his own health and the well-being of his brother and his mother is now struggling to get this medical advice accepted. I have met with other individuals who are homeless and have serious health concerns and because of that emergency accommodation is not a suitable option for them. The only other option that council can offer them at this point is either to stay in an overcrowded accommodation with friends and families or to self fund a hotel or a B&B. Like a room in a if you can't afford the rents in Galway you certainly can't afford a room in a B&B indefinitely until suitable housing can be offered. Local authorities have to have more options available to them outside of the one-size-fits-all emergency accommodation so that they can also support those medically vulnerable people.
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