Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 17 September 2019

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Pre-Budget Submission: Irish Universities Association

Photo of Lisa ChambersLisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to clarify one issue. I do not agree that the price increases were set before there was any indication that pressure zones were going to come in. For more than two years, we have been pressing for rent pressure zones to cover university accommodation. It was very clear that this was coming down the tracks. Some universities are charging in excess of €1,000 more per month for rooms with shared living space. Members of the Irish Universities Association may consider that acceptable, but it is not. It is gouging students. Universities should not be responding to market pressures. They are not-for-profit organisations. I acknowledge that they are not making a profit from the accommodation but, rather, redirecting funds to other areas of the university where money is lacking. While I understand why that is happening, what is being done is not okay and students are suffering because of it. The universities are pricing low to middle-income families out of student accommodation. Very few of them can afford the rates being charged. Universities are using funds from accommodation to plug holes elsewhere. No one is buying the suggestion that the money is being recycled to refurbish other apartments. There are clear problems in the university sector. The rents were increased significantly because that is what is happening elsewhere and it is seen as acceptable. I would have expected better from the universities than to respond to those market pressures.