New Town Centre Housing Developments at Dunlo Hill and Dunlo Street

The town centre is poised to see a large unused site on the corner of Dunlo Hill and Dunlo Street redeveloped by Galway County Council in a bid to tackle to the huge pressures on the local municipal area housing waiting list.

The 1.8 acre site of the iconic Dooleys Bar and Grocery alongside some 7 residential town houses sweeping up to the Mount has been targeted by the Council Executive and promoted by local Councillor Dermot Connolly.

Members of the Municipal District Area Council have been informed of the progress on this exciting project led by the continuous questioning  of the Nutfield based Councillor over a series of Autumn meetings.

Members were informed officially by Director of Services Mr. Liam Hanrahan that the numbers on the waiting list for the County was 3,400 of which 540 were expressly for the Ballinasloe Electoral Area.

“ With the amount of representations that I and our T.D. Claire Kerrane are getting , I feel these lists could be underestimated somewhat – when we asked the then Housing Officer Michael Owen some 18 months ago we got a figure closer to 800. I think possible these figures are leaving out those persons in support of HAP scheme and indeed the one preceeding it – the RAP scheme , as well as new applications not on the list.“ stated Cllr. Connolly.

Councillor Dermot Connolly has been pushing for a number of years for the Council to use National Funding to acquire unused sites in town centre locations;  having seen the results of a pilot scheme in Monaghan County Council presented to the Western Development Commission of which he is a member; some years ago.

“ I have been advocating that our Council use our town centres as suitable residential locations for those in our community who have town centre needs and may not always have access to a car. We can better serve the needs of all those our area housing lists if look at the possibility of what  is under our feet” stated Cllr Dermot.

The Councillors were informed at their Sept meeting that Departmental approval has been received for the purchase of the site at Dunlo Hill and that Preliminary Engineering and Architectural Reports were being prepared.  

At the October meeting arising from Cllr. Dermot Connollys questions the Director of Services advised that the Part 8 Planning process for the development at Dunlo Hill would commence when the legal issues have been resolved.  

“I am looking forward to moving the Part 8 Process ( to allow the Council to fast track the planning and Capital Development ) in the new year as soon as we clear the outstanding issues and providing more renewal and hope for people in the new year “, stated Cllr. Dermot.