Mr. Michael Casey:

I suggest that the specific recent rent increases should be looked at in the context of the longer term. As my colleague, Mr. Miley, has said, student accommodation is run on a not-for-profit basis. Universities are not interested in gouging students or whatever. Students are our core business. Fundamentally, the first responsibility of a university is to its students. If one examines the cost of student accommodation over the past ten years, one will find that there were few, if any, increases during the initial period. Over the past two or three years, prior to the most recent round of increases to which the Deputy has referred, we have seen universities responding to market pressures like the cost of construction and the cost of refurbishment. Increases have been introduced to reflect such pressures. As my colleague has alluded to, the universities are operated on a cost-neutral basis. In effect, the cost of new blocks helps to refurbish older blocks, many of which are 20 years old at this stage. In many cases, the price increases in the most recent round were agreed with students six months ago. When universities increase the price of student accommodation, it is generally following consultation with student unions. Student unions are engaged with and are part of the decision-making process when prices are being decided on. The prices were set in advance of the recent developments with regard to the Residential Tenancies Act. It is not the case that the university sector increased prices in response to legislation aimed at capping prices. In most cases - I cannot speak for every case - the decision to increase the price was made before there was any indication that purpose-built student accommodation would come within the ambit of the Residential Tenancies Act.