Fianna Fáil's Éamon Ó Cuív has hit out at the government over a "critical shortage" of housing in Galway city.

A total of 14 houses are due to be completed by Galway City Council this year.

The TD for Galway West has called for around 3,000 new units in the city to meet the current demand.

He explained: "People are coming into my office every week that are in crisis situations, and this is only a fraction of the number of people who urgently need assistance in securing a home. Despite the huge demand, and the announcement of promises, plans and strategies by Fine Gael, the number of homes being built by local authorities and private developers is not enough.

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"The current situation is hugely challenging, but is particularly difficult for people on the homeless list who do not know from week to week where they are going to be living. Families with young children want to be able to provide a stable environment for their children but the severe housing shortage is resulting in huge uncertainty for them."

Mr Ó Cuív has urged the government to start thinking outside the box to solve this "national emergency".

"Local authorities should be given the same autonomy afforded to state agencies so that the need to refer each building scheme to the Department of Housing four times could be negated. This would reduce dramatically the amount of time that planning and approvals for new schemes take and would free up officials within the Department to concentrate on key policy areas," he concluded.

(CM/MH)