Galway Bay FM Newsroom- A Galway city councillor says house prices are spiralling out of the reach of ordinary workers.
Social Democrats Councillor Owen Hanley says the housing crisis is having a damaging impact on every generation, reducing the ability to plan for a family, or at the other end to plan for retirement.
He says 20 and 30 year olds are unable to move out of unaffordable rents or move from the family home.
The latest figures from the CSO show residential property prices rose 13.5 per cent nationally and 13.4 per cent in the West of Ireland in October, the fastest rate of growth in 6 years.
Over 4,300 homes were bought by households in October, an increase of almost 13 per cent when compared to the same month last year, and at an average price of 275 thousand euro.
Councillor Hanley says the situation could be eased and affordable housing could be provided if there was a state intervention which would allow public homes to be built on public land.
The Galway city councillor brands housing minister Darragh O Brien's Shared Equity Scheme ill-advised and hare-brained, and calls on him to abandon it.
