Donegal County Council has been told that there is demand in the county for a Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme.
Donegal has not been included in the scheme up to now, and a survey has been conducted by the council to determine effective demand.
County Secretary Patsy Lafferty told a special meeting to discuss the issue today that the low median income in the county means that many people who would like to participate in the scheme cannot afford to do so.
Opening the meeting, Mr Lafferty said the reality is that over the past three years in Donegal is that house prices have risen by 37% and rents have risen by 59% at a time when median income in Donegal is 23% lower than that of the state as a whole.
The survey found that while there is interest in the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme, the amount of people who qualify for it is very small.
Of 270 expressions of interest, 159 were excluded because their income was less than €50,000, and 37 were excluded because they earned over €72,000.
58 submissions were examined in detail, of which officials say 19 submissions appear to be eligible and financially viable.
Members were told of those, six were in Letterkenny, and officials are now in discussions with the department, with a focus on Letterkenny.
There will now be a ‘deep dive’ into the data, with a need to identify the resources required to advance a scheme.
