Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)

I am glad to see there is a dedicated unit for this. As I am sure the unit knows well, the problems that are out there need looking at. I agree with Senator Ryan that there should be more collaboration with local authorities. I was in MTU Cork last week and it ran its own park-and-ride system because there were a lot of issues with housing and people parking outside residences and blocking residents in. It might be worth asking MTU Cork what way that was set up. I was in Maynooth and it was delighted with the 116 units. I then went over to TU Dublin, which has zero. It has the land but it just cannot borrow, which shows the discrepancies there.

While I was in Cork, I was with UCC and it is the first in the world to get five green flags. I have to throw that in there. MTU also spoke about international students and the impact on the local economy as being €1 billion, but it had to turn away a lot of students because it just did not have the accommodation. There is also the issue of international students being used as cash cows, so there is a fine balance needed on that.

One thing I heard in all the places that I visited was that mental health issues were on the rise. That is down to both the cost and lack of accommodation.