Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister's directness in his answer. As I alluded to in my initial question, there were issues in Mayfield-Montenotte, which the Minister might have seen in the national news over recent days. It gave the perception that just because a building was being assessed, things had been agreed. In the case of the student accommodation block, it is probably going through the same process whereby it is just being looked at. That perception gave rise to people spreading false information. In the Mayfield case, all sorts of rumours and allegations were going around but it turned out that a developer was just developing a private building because it is his building and he has options other than emergency accommodation, which, I believe, he is also exploring. It led to an unsavoury incident over the weekend and on Monday. That is my only concern. I acknowledge we have to house people and do our best, and I commend the work of the Minister's Department on housing people temporarily in student accommodation when it is idle and ready to be occupied temporarily. Nevertheless, as I said, in the case of student accommodation, not least where there is demand for it, I would like that to be maintained.

On the courses without points, the Minister does not know my second cousin but she was that nurse who missed out on nursing by five points five or six years ago and had to go to England. She had done the course here again to try to get in and got top marks but still could not get a place here, so she went to England and is now working for the NHS. The Minister did not know that but it is a typical example that is indicative of the kind of scenario we are in, so I welcome that alternative pathway.