There is to be a drop of at least half in the amount of funds available for Galway to build more houses.

The capital housing allocation was one of the big casualties in this week's Budget - down from €880m in 2010 to €520m in 2011 - with Housing Minister, Michael Finneran, signalling the end of the 'construction era' for local authority houses.

The State Budget allocation for Galway City Council's local authority housing spend in 2011 is to be slashed by at least 50%, at a time when the waiting list for accommodation is now topping the 4,000 mark.

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The 2010 local authority housing figure of €6.575m will be halved in 2011 with the strong possibility that not one new house will be constructed next year.

While the City Council is awaiting final figure confirmation of their 2011 Budget, it has been told that at a maximum, it will be only half of what it received last year.

It now seems certain that most of this new local authority housing figure of approximately €3.25m will be channelled into the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) or into long term leasing arrangements.

(BMcC/GK)