A proposed co-operative housing development in the Co Galway village of Turloughmore has met with opposition from local residents.
The scheme is intended to provide affordable housing for first-time buyers earning between £20,000 and £25,000 annually. It was proposed by Galway City Co-Operative as a response to soaring house prices.
The co-op was established last year, spearheaded by the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Mr Frank Fahey, who is a TD for Galway West.
The co-op is a non-profit-making body currently comprising 35 young people who are all working in the semi-state and private sectors in Galway, said Mr Fahey.
This group recently acquired an 8.16-acre site at Turloughmore, nine miles east of Galway city, and has now applied for planning permission for 39 bungalows and dormer bungalows. These, Mr Fahey says, will cost between £60,000 and £65,000.
A similar house in Galway city would cost over £100,000, he adds, stressing that this development, which is described as low-density, is not local authority housing.
However, a group of about 30 residents in the village of Turloughmore met this week to voice their concerns about the scheme. There has been a lot of development in the area recently, and Turloughmore's infrastructure cannot cope with more, according to one objector, Mr Robert Lawlor, a local veterinary surgeon. Residents will object to planning permission for the co-operative houses, he said.
"We have Clare-Galway nearby with two semi-detached housing estates and other developments planned to start in the next while. There's also a lot of half-acre sites being sold for houses and we have no objection to that," explained Mr Lawlor.
But the proposed co-operative development is off the main road in Turloughmore village and would place too many demands on a village which has three pubs, a shop and a sports centre, he said. It would also lead to further traffic congestion in an area already badly affected by this, and place pressure on the sewage system, he said.
"Frank Fahey says that the people buying these houses are young people with the combined income of £25,000 per year, which implies two working people with a family. Who is going to look after the children while the parents are working?" he asked.
"A proposal such as these simply means that the Government is shifting urban jungles into country regions and they are a stop-gap measure to deal with city problems," he said. "Why should rural areas have city problems thrust upon them?"