Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I thank the witnesses. They are very welcome in here today to discuss student accommodation. It is all about housing, housing and housing. I know a lot has been done but as a Government we need to do an awful lot more. I understand there have been a lot of restrictions regarding Covid and then the Russian invasion of Ukraine and all the other issues around international protection. These have caused a lot of turbulence. It certainly has not helped in the student accommodation sector.

There is a growing student population, as was said, and the shortage of affordable housing options is causing concern. I welcome that many measures have been implemented on behalf of students. I live in Sligo and we had huge issues regarding student accommodation where a developer allowed a development to close down for a year and then reopened it. I thought this was sharp practice. I pay tribute to the students' union and the college, which highlighted the €14,000 rent-a-room relief. They went out of their way to ring around and it certainly helped. We are, however, still in a very dangerous crisis. Has the Department talked to other Departments, such as the Department of children, on how to address this? Just one agency or one Department will not solve this on their own. We need a little bit more.

On the viability of student accommodation, it has been the case that student accommodation in Ireland derives from a combination of publicly funded higher education institutions and the private sector. I am a bit concerned now because the new Atlantic Technological University campuses are well down the curve when it comes to developing accommodation like that provided by colleges such as Trinity College Dublin, UCD and NUIG. We need to do an awful lot more to progress this lack of accommodation. It just is not there. Given all the reports the Department has had and all the reports it is doing, and we are awaiting a report, I do not know if it is quick enough. I really think we need to do a lot more in understanding.

The rent-a-room relief was increased to €14,000 in 2017. That has certainly helped. Ms Nugent talked of the technological university sector student accommodation programme delivering regionally balanced and campus-specific projects. What are the HEA and the Department doing to help those areas that need a bit more help?

I have another query I wish to have answered today. We must ensure that the lack of accommodation does not act as a barrier to people accessing education. There is one thing we tend to neglect, which is the rural transport initiative. Certainly, in areas we have buses coming from Ballinamore, Ballyshannon, Boyle, Drumshanbo and Ballaghaderreen, and further afield. This has certainly helped with student accommodation because people are living at home and they can use the buses. This has helped, in a small way, to alleviate the damaging effect of the lack of accommodation.

I thank the witnesses for their great work and I look forward to their answers.