Protesters over Galway growing accommodation shortage have called on the city council to declare a housing emergency.
The Galway Housing Action Group, which staged a protest outside Galway City Hall on Monday evening, has also called for a freeze on all further repossessions due to mortgage difficulties.
Up to 50 people who participated in the demonstration demanded the council seek more funding to build more housing and refurbish some 40 empty houses in the city area.
Declaration of an emergency would allow the local authority to drawn down special EU funding, the action group and members of the Galway Traveller Movement said.
Mayor of Galway Noel Larkin (Ind), who was attending the council's monthly meeting, accepted a petition from the protest, which was supported by Independent TD Catherine Connolly, Sinn Féin Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh and several city councillors.
Action group spokeswoman Suzanne Daly said Galway City Council was spending a six-figure sum every six months to house 24 families in hotels and guesthouses, and this money could be used for permanent accommodation.
However, she said the group had been told that each unit would cost the local authority €330,000 to build, and this figure seemed exorbitant.
Galway City Council has said there are 3,322 people on its waiting list for social housing. However, Ms Daly said the figure was much higher than this, as those people receiving the housing assistance payment, which is replacing long-term rent supplement, are no longer on a local authority housing list.
The housing assistance payment has been defined as a “social housing support” under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, section 37.
Senator Ó Clochartaigh has said 15 derelict sites in Galway could be used for accommodation. The sites include the former Corrib Great Southern Hotel, properties in Ballybrit, Newcastle, St Helen's Street, Ballybane and Dominick Street Upper, he said. He noted the local authority had allocated a sum in excess of €25,000 in its draft budget for this year to secure the sites against vandalism and anti-social behaviour. "In light of the unprecedented housing crisis, it is vital that these sites are considered for upgrade or for alternative use."
