Ms Maisie Hall:

That figure refers to the purpose-built on-campus accommodation. Off campus there is more purpose-built accommodation. When we add all the units up, however, we still only get to around 4,000. That includes everything that could possibly be considered purpose built. It has not always been like that; it has been worse. We have just had the accommodation at Dunlin built.

I categorise that as luxury accommodation. All of the units are double-bed units and have en suites. All of them are way up towards the €800 mark for accommodation. They are not affordable for students. Whether those beds on campus can even be included in the tally of beds available to students is ridiculous.

As I said, Airbnb is just getting worse and worse. At the start of the year, the city council stated it had received 24 applications, only nine of which it approved. Yet, over 1,000 registered properties are still on the Airbnb website, which makes no sense. What is the point in having legislation to regulate these if they are not being regulated?

There was a comment about digs. There is no point in arguing against digs continuing to be a part of student accommodation, but what we are seeing is a change from that being a choice. In the past, students were able to decide whether digs suited them. I will not argue with that. I have so many fabulous stories from students who are in digs. The landlady of my vice-president for education bakes her a cake, but we also hear all these horror stories. Students have no choice at this point. We are not saying, "Oh, maybe you will rent a room. It is beneficial for you". We are saying, "Please rent out a room" because students are being left with no choice.