James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator for her continued interest in and advocacy for the sector. I very much acknowledge that. She raised a number of issues and I will try to run through them. Starting with student accommodation and housing, this is a challenging area and one I am very much aware of and intend to address. The strategy should be available by the end of the summer, certainly by the end of the year, but I hope by the end of the summer. Even sooner, as in the next couple of weeks before the summer recess of the Oireachtas I very much intend to publish the student design programme because that is what the section 28 guidelines, for example, will be based on in terms of planning permissions for student accommodation. That will really kick start the process and the broader strategy will follow later in the year. It is something I am mindful of and very keen to progress so I intend to bring that through quickly.

I understand the Senator's points about the struggle in terms of the wider housing market. We are all aware of the challenges there. It is a balance. Many of the reforms in recent years such as 12-month tenancies, bringing the landlord-tenant relationship in student accommodation under the remit of the Residential Tenancies Board and effectively bringing student accommodation provision under the wider landlord-tenant regulatory system have pros and cons, to put it simply. The pros are that there are greater protections and it is a more regulated framework but there can always be challenges and part of the juggling act is to avoid them having a chilling effect on people who might have been minded to offer supply. Flexibilities that might have been there previously may have been eliminated through doing that.

In terms of digs, they are a really useful option in the wider portfolio of options. It is not the primary option but it is a popular one for many people. There are different online platforms where people can search for digs accommodation. I have kept an eye on them myself over the past number of months with regard to different university towns around the country, such as Galway, Limerick, Cork, Sligo, etc., and typically there are digs available. The availability of digs accommodation remains steady. Even though the housing market and, by extension, the student accommodation market is squeezed and is tight - I acknowledge that it is - there remains a supply of digs accommodation in many of those university towns. In recent years, my Department has encouraged students to look at digs as a viable option. It may be that first or second year students might find it very useful but students moving into their final years may find it less so. There are different options.

The Senator mentioned Cork and the Department engaged extensively with UCC on the provision and development of the Crow's Nest. We are working on that.

In terms of the research talent issue, it is important we are an open door. I believe in academic freedom and integrity and if other parts of the world are closing down those values we have an obligation to stand up for and advocate for them. We should be welcoming to those from other jurisdictions. In addition, there is a benefit to international collaboration. I completely hear the points the Senator made about IFUT and the researchers and I am engaging with it. We all benefit if we can attract talent from the four corners of the globe, bringing new ideas and diversity into the system. That helps domestically as well because we all get a lift from that.

There is a literacy fund. The collaboration and innovation fund is part of that and that is an area I will be working on. I acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, who is leading on that.