It is quite serious.

It is quite serious.

I am glad the Tánaiste is here because I am raising once again the issue of Galway and the housing crisis. Back in February 2019, more than five years ago, a task force was set up, such was the seriousness of the problem and the emergency. I am on record as saying the housing crisis in Galway is worse than in Dublin. The Simon Community does quarterly reports. There are no properties available under HAP support schemes in each of the quarterly reports the Simon Community has done. We have had a task force sitting since 2019. It is now 2024 and all that has happened is that it has changed its name from a task force to a delivery task force and it has streamlined the number of people on it. There is no final report that tells us what the barriers to housing in Galway are. Worst of all for me, as someone who lives in Galway, is that I am looking at empty local authority houses. Without exaggeration, there has been one in my area for more than three years. Other houses have been vacant for longer while others have been vacant for one or two years. There is no sense of urgency whatsoever.

There is no excuse for empty local authority houses. The local authority should get going. I remember in 2020 and 2021 that we provided additional resources to get voids done. Thousands were done across the country. It is unacceptable that houses have been left idle after they have been vacated. Local authorities really need to get going on the voids too. Social housing is the key way to deal with homelessness.

I agree.

Last year, about 12,000 social houses were delivered. Of those, 8,500 were new builds.

Galway has not met its targets.

What I am drawing from the presentation is that the local authorities in Galway need to increase the output. I will talk to the Minister and ask him to review the situation in Galway to see what the issues are.