“You can’t build homes without infrastructure” says Galway West Candidate Denman Rooke
People Before Profit Galway have emphasized the importance of developing crucial infrastructure alongside housing, after news that the Galway Community Council has unlocked land for 7,500 homes.
Echoing calls by the Office of the Planning Regulator and the National Transport Authority, PBP Rep Denman Rooke said “more housing is welcome but we need urgent government investment in surrounding infrastructure such as wastewater treatment, public transport, schools, and flood defences. Too often housing is built while infrastructure lags behind as we see in many parts of Galway – and indeed the rest of Ireland”.
During the consultation process, the Office of Public Works had pointed out that some of the unlocked lands in Oranmore and Garraun are at mid-to-high risk of flooding in the future, due to climate change. Commenting on this, Rooke reflected, “the policies of successive short-sighted administrations have left us increasingly unprepared to handle the impending climate fallout. The chickens are coming home to roost, and should highlight how crucial it is to have a holistic vision for the county,”.
Rooke also lamented Cllr Reddington’s claim that “we need developers’ contributions to get housing development happening again” calling it “emblematic of a complete lack of political imagination and responsibility”.
“We vote politicians into power and pay their wages with our taxes. They are accountable to us. Delivery of homes should not be determined by metrics of profit and market norms, but by a sense of duty.”
Rooke concluded that “the government needs to stop offloading responsibility to private developers and speculators, and needs to do what it is elected to do: provide for the people of Ireland. Which is why PBP advocates a State-run construction company. “