Professor Diarmuid Hegarty:

On the issue of student accommodation, before the Deputy joined the meeting I mentioned there are several solutions to the student accommodation issue. Tax-based funding would be helpful but it has to be tax-based funding that is not withdrawn almost immediately on its provision. Tax-based funding would help in the context of the life of the loans people take out in order to fund student accommodation, as would honesty on the part of the Government in terms of keeping to its word in respect of not withdrawing the scheme.

I refer to the point made by Deputy Conway-Walsh in respect of the staffing of the medical sector. We have an opportunity here in terms of progression. It took five years to happen but we have established the national apprenticeship in healthcare for health carers. There should really be a progression path for health carers to go beyond that and become advanced health carers, assistant nurses and so on. We need that and I think it would greatly help students in DEIS schools. If students can get into a lean-and-earn model fairly quickly whereby they are working, learning and advancing, that will help greatly. As long as we have a situation where the only way to get into work is to get into college, we will need to have quotas for students from DEIS schools. There are other ways, however. The apprenticeship and traineeship routes need to be developed and supported by the Government.

Student accommodation is very expensive. We in Griffith College are fortunate that we built our student accommodation in 2004 and it is two to a room so we are in a position to charge approximately 70% of the rate that would be charged for single-occupancy accommodation. As a result, the accommodation is full. It is very difficult to fight the market and the reality of the situation is that the market for accommodation actually determines the prices students are paying. Some form of support in terms of enhanced SUSI grants would deal with it immediately but there is also a need to expand the stock of accommodation. That requires tax-based funding that is given and not withdrawn.