Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I gather a new national student accommodation strategy is being developed as we speak. The 2016 policy targeted no new student accommodation in Waterford, despite the issue of a university in Waterford appearing in the 2011, 2016 and 2020 programmes for Government. To reiterate: none, nada, nothing. I cannot resist the cheap shot that this is one of the few targets in housing the Government has actually achieved. WIT, now known as SETU, was at the vanguard of developing its own student accommodation, with the College Fields development dating back to 1992. It was the first institute of technology to do so. Of course, this was back when WIT management had some control of its own affairs and strategic planning. In the current programme for Government, Waterford was barred from borrowing as part of the process, forcing it to accept the technological university. Will the new student accommodation policy have any scintilla of ambition to address the brain drain in the south east? When will SETU be allowed to borrow?

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