Thirty four homes are to be built at Oran Hill between the Mountain Top and Letterkenny University Hospital.

The proposed project will consist of 22 two-bedroom houses, eight one-bedroom apartments and four three-bedroom properties.

The Department of Housing has given the scheme the go ahead and a tender document has been issued for a quantity surveyor to manage construction.

A timeline for the development has yet to be finalised with a number of issues, including road safety audits, still to be carried out.

Mayor of Letterkenny Jimmy Kavanagh said housing was the single biggest issue elected representatives deal with on a daily basis.

He said that while the Oran Hill scheme was welcome, it was a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed.

“It is very welcome because there is a huge waiting list for social housing in Letterkenny alone. So from that perspective, I’m delighted to see this scheme moving ahead.

“The problem is though that we had a few years when there wasn’t a penny to be had, there were very few solvent builders in the country and we didn’t have the workers to build houses.

“Now we are playing catch up although what I would say is that in terms of building social houses, this year is going to see more going up than we have for a very long time.”

Councillor Kavanagh said that while there were pockets of social housing developments happening around Donegal, they only scratch the surface in terms of what is needed.

“There is no getting away from the fact that we need to do more, we need to do more about building and we need to do more about bringing empty houses back into use. And that is before we get to the mica issue which is going to be absolutely huge for our county.

“These 34 houses are very welcome but the reality is that it hardly looks at the need that is out there. It is going to take a good few years before we get to that stage.”