A special plenary meeting of Donegal County Council took place in the County House, Lifford today, where members discussed the pressing issue of affordable housing in the county.
The key point raised during the meeting was the significant demand for a Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme, which has yet to be introduced in Donegal.
Liam McCarron, who discussed the origins and objectives of the scheme explained: “The Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme came in under the Affordable Housing Act, 2021, and the aim was to deliver 36,000 homes up to 2030.”
However, he noted that Donegal had not been included in the scheme’s initial roll-out: “There were targets set for local authorities at that time. Eighteen local authorities had targets set, and there were no targets set for Donegal.”
Mr. McCarron acknowledged that not all of the local authorities with set targets have made significant progress.
“I understand that not all of the 18 local authorities who did receive targets have advanced with schemes at this stage. It’s not a case that they’ve all gone ahead and delivered,” he explained.
The council has since taken steps to determine whether there is a sufficient market for an affordable purchase scheme in Donegal.
“We ran the survey online from the 21st of February to the 12th of April 2024,” Mr. McCarron stated, adding that it received substantial attention, becoming “the most viewed of anything and got a great deal of attraction on social media.”
The survey results revealed that while there is interest in the scheme, very few people meet the financial qualifications.
Of 270 expressions of interest, 159 were excluded because their income was below €50,000, and 37 were excluded because they earned over €72,000.
Only 58 submissions were examined in detail, of which officials found 19 to be eligible and financially viable for the scheme.
Of these, six are in Letterkenny, and discussions with the department are now focused on that area.
Addressing the council’s concerns, McCarron emphasised: “There’s a demand proven for the scheme. I suppose from discussions with the department, one of the things they emphasised was that we need to be really confident that the market is there. And they will only approve schemes that we have proved to their satisfaction.”
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