Ms Megan Reilly:

There is a student population of more than 18,000 at NUIG and our students have been badly affected by issues with rent certainty and security of tenure. The Bills address some of the issues that students have faced but just scratch the surface of what is taking place. Last year in NUIG, a student residence associated with but not owned by the university increased its rents by 19% overnight. In the students' union, we strongly opposed and protested the increase and took a case against the accommodation provider with the RTB. This was how we learned about the 4% rent pressure zones not being extended to PBSA, the difficulties with residents in PBSA being classified as licensees rather than tenants and, as a consequence, the lack of rights that are afforded to students. In our case, even though it was titled a licence agreement, the adjudication treated it as a tenancy. We have learned from Threshold, however, that a similar case in Cork was treated as a licensee agreement, showing a lack of clarity in how these cases are treated, which the Anti-Evictions Bill will contribute to clearing up. Our case failed on a technicality, unfortunately, but we then started to lobby for rent caps to be extended to PBSA. Almost a year has passed but rent caps have still not been extended to PBSA. We are faced with another increase of €1,400, or 20%, in another of our student villages. Again, this increase was announced overnight and was brought to us by a student who is considering taking a year out to afford her final year in college. She has two working parents and just missed out on the threshold to receive the grant, and she works 25 hours a week to keep herself in college.

These unprecedented rent increases come with extortionate deposits, often of two months' rent or more to be paid upfront, which is why we welcome the addition of a limit to a deposit of one month's rent in the Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018. A residential tenancies register is also a welcome change, as quite frequently we in students' unions are left trying to gather data on what has happened year on year. PBSA do not currently have to disclose previous rents and, therefore, we are reliant on students bringing forward information on increases.

The issues we deal with in Galway are also happening in Dublin and Cork and spilling out of cities throughout the country. Students are frustrated, but it is more than that. It affects their access to education and their successes even within that system.