Mike Kennelly (Fine Gael)

I apologise for being late. A lot is going on as well this evening. I thank the witnesses for their opening statements. Student accommodation is an issue that did not happen overnight. In terms of supply and demand, it is the housing sector on wheels. The statement states 5,000 beds were delivered during the Covid-19 pandemic but completions have since dropped. I find that very alarming. Based on the evidence that student accommodation was in severe demand, no matter what the costs were around providing accommodation, seeing that there was a drop in the provision for student accommodation seems a really retrograde move and one we could be paying for. How many of the technological sector student accommodation projects will move to construction this year? When will we see the long-promised student accommodation strategy with a real timeline and funding behind it?

I welcome the affordability of the 41-week tenancy, and the 28-day notice period is real progress and has to be welcomed. I am from what is classified as a disadvantaged area. If students cannot afford the rent, these protections are meaningless. The only option was to increase supply. In my eyes, that did not happen. We had incidents and wars and migration. I am from north Kerry and MTU has been a transformation for higher education accessibility. It has been fantastic and it is growing and growing. It was growing during the Covid-19 pandemic and the post-Covid period but unfortunately the accommodation was not there. Senator Ryan just made a fierce connection there with future accommodation and how we corridor these students in from that region into those three campuses. During one of those crises I mentioned, there was a bus connection from outside north Kerry going to Tralee. It took us about three months before a double-decker bus had to be put in situ. The students could not get there. That has to be looked at. I welcome the return of accommodation back into Tralee. As late as yesterday I was leaving Kerry and the MTU was advertising on local radio, looking for people to present themselves for the rent-a-room scheme. I wonder, is there a real lack of accommodation for the MTU students? As I see it, student levels in Tralee are rising and rising. Is there a crisis? The witnesses mentioned local authorities and they got involved on foot of the promise of the Government to sort it out. Are the local authorities the real stumbling block regarding planning and future planning and planning applications that have been already granted?