Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)

Our guests are all very welcome. It is great to have five presidents in one room. I commend them all on the good work they do. I read their statements. There is a lot of commonality across them around the issues that they have identified. I am hearing that we have almost reached a situation where young people are choosing their course based on where they think they might get accommodation, which is not what it should be about at all. They should be choosing the course they feel is most suited to what they want to pursue in life. I had a conversation with a parent recently who pointed out that UCD has the most accommodation, so I am somewhat dismayed by Mr. Roche's report on the condition of that accommodation. Some of it is in quite poor condition. I ask him to expand on the tiered system that he spoke about. I am also very alarmed at something he said about the €67.7 million of taxpayer's money being invested in new accommodation. That is great; it is welcome. We need to see investment, but is Mr. Roche saying that it is costing €250,000 per bedroom? Are they gold-plated rooms? That is ridiculous. Will he expand on that, because it is raising alarm bells with me regarding who is overseeing the building of this accommodation?