James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

It would be unhelpful, premature and unwise to get into a detailed binary set of commitments around legislation that has yet to be drafted around proposals that were introduced at broad, high level yesterday, that are not due to kick in for almost a year. It would be unhelpful and would run the risk of misleading students and many other interested parties; primarily students. Also there is the question of talking to the Minister responsible who takes the lead on this. What I will say, and which I acknowledged in my opening statement; the provision of affordable, quality student accommodation that works for students, is close to their place of study and is available at scale is an absolute priority of mine. That is why I am introducing four different initiatives to support that. The designs will be introduced in the coming weeks, and the student accommodation strategy will be introduced by the end of the year, if not sooner. The technological university student accommodation fund is already in play and we have a national survey undergoing with significant inputs in terms of understanding supply and demand needs in different parts of the country - because there are regional patterns in this, as well as supporting the digs sector and other forms of accommodation. I am acutely aware of the importance of accommodation available at scale which is affordable to students. I will make those views known to the Minister, Deputy Browne. I have already discussed student accommodation as part of the wider housing strategy, and I look forward to engaging with him in the detail of that. Those are the points I will champion in my discussions.