Professor Vincent Cunnane:

It is a hugely important point. It is about the ability to have affordable accommodation. What seems to be developing is that students who need help in that space would get it through SUSI. With that separation we were talking about, the viability of the accommodation and the individual student is probably a very positive step. As Senator Ryan pointed out, there will be a private sector issue here but if we are bringing the private sector onto State-owned land to build purpose-built student accommodation, we need to ensure we have some control of the operation of that, as well as the long-term capacity to take on that asset after 25 years or so, as opposed to a continual extraction of profits. For our sector, and I am sure for everybody, that would questionable, so we have to be careful. There are mechanisms we can put in place - and other jurisdictions have been doing this for a long time - as to how in offering that State-owned land to the private sector to build on that we ensure we have some control over the operational aspect of things. That allows our ethos to pervade that and ultimately the State can make an injection and give over that land, as ultimately the asset will revert to the State. It is therefore an investment and not a cost. That is my last word.