Housing Land 'Being Lost To Aggregation'

Land in the west of Ireland that was supposed to be used to build much-needed houses and to give the beleaguered construction sector a fillip is instead to be virtually given away.

Around 3,500 people on Galway housing list are in for disappointment as Galway City Council outlines plans to hand over 21 acres of Council-owned land earmarked for social housing.

The decision to offload the land has been taken by the Acting City Manager, Joe O'Neill as the City Council cannot afford to pay the cost of servicing loans taken out to buy the land.

Mr O'Neill is proposing that 60% of the land - that is 21 acres of the Council's 38 acres which were bought at the height of the boom - be included in the Government's proposed new Land Aggregation Scheme.

This means the Council would give the land to a state agency (which is not yet established) and it would no longer own the land but the debt and the cost of servicing the loans would also be transferred to the new body.

According to the Galway City Tribune, those on the housing waiting list who had hoped the land would be used to build up to 400 new units of social housing may now have to wait as long as ten years for the project to get funding.

The Council had raised more than €26m in loans to purchase the land in Knocknacarra and Rahoon to build social houses.

However, the three sites owned by the Council, at Ballyburke and on the Ballymoneen Road, are now lying idle and the loans are accumulating interest so that the value of the outstanding loan now stands at €29.5m and the Council has admitted that these lands would not be developed for at least five years and possibly ten years.

(BMcC/GK)