Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)

The witnesses are very welcome. I thank them very much. A lot of my speech will probably concur with my colleague, Senator Laura Harmon. I compliment Senator Harmon on the role she has played in the USI over many years, the advice she has given me in this area and the legislation she brought in with regard to sex for rent. It is really complementary and something I know Senator Harmon is extremely proud of, obviously. As a party, not to be partisan about it, we are extremely proud to stand over legislation like this.

This is an opportunity to absolutely call out successive governments for their failure and inaction on housing and student accommodation in particular. It gives us and the witnesses an opportunity to hold the Government and the Minister to account on this. The Minister appeared before this committee on the issue of student accommodation. His answers were extremely vague. I am not going to go into the Minister because he is not here to represent himself. It is not for the want of trying from every side of the House regarding student accommodation and the significant costs students face.

Previous to the general election in 2024, Senator Harmon, our party leader, Deputy Ivana Bacik, and I met with UCC students’ union. While there were a number of things, one thing that stood out to me in particular, and something which I wish to put on the record of this committee, is that there was a student travelling from Sligo every single day. Two of those days every week he was actually sleeping in his car because he could not access student accommodation due to the lack of accommodation and affordability of same. It is important to put that on the record. That is something the witnesses are seeing every single day of the week across all of the colleges and AMLÉ.

Mr. Angland has provided a good example of how we could tackle the student poverty situation through the expansion of the SUSI scheme. I put it on the record of the Dáil and I will put it on the record of this committee that if it was not for the SUSI scheme, I would not have had access to third level education. That is a fact. It is a fact for the majority of students across this country. A total of 80% of students in this country do not have full access to the SUSI scheme. That is a serious issue. It is Government inaction once again. It is fundamentally the case that this country and State are putting economic barriers before young adults trying to access third level education. There should be no economic barriers to third level education in any country in the world, particularly in one of the richest countries in the world. That is my fundamental belief. I completely call out the successive governments which for many years have failed in taking away those economic barriers to third level education.

There are a couple of things that any of the witnesses can answer. My first question, which is probably going to be a short one, is whether there has been significant engagement between the USI and the Department regarding the concerns the witnesses have and any budgetary proposals they have proposed to Government for the upcoming budget.