Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Students and their parents and families are not in any way immune from the real pressures people are feeling in relation to the cost-of-living crisis. It is palpable. It is difficult and challenging and we really want to look at practical ways of helping. That is why we have taken immediate measures between now and the end of the year with €143.5 million of direct financial assistance going to students and their families be that the double Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, payment just before Christmas; the increase in the student grants that will kick in from January; the refund of €1,000 additional funding for the student assistance fund, which can perhaps be viewed as a hardship fund; extra supports for postgraduate students and an additional increase in the PhD stipend. These are practical measures we wanted to take now to help people and in recognition of the fact that when you look at housing and student accommodation, there are two parts to it. There is affordability and supply and in relation to affordability some of the measures taken in the budget will genuinely assist. For the information of the committee, figures as of today show there are approximately 2,065 rooms, what used to be called digs, available for rent across the country.

These are advertised on student portals and the like. When I meet students and talk about this I understand it does not work for everybody but it is working for thousands of students. It does work sometimes for people who have a spare room in terms of the cost of living impact. We have made a number of changes around social welfare rules to make it easier for people to keep the living alone and the fuel allowances and the pension and rent out the spare room. While people say there is nothing available on Daft.ie or Myhome.ie I encourage any student or parent to look at the various digs options available. It is certainly better than some of very difficult scenarios that I sometimes hear of. That is not me saying that is the long-term solution or an optimum policy. It is not. It is getting on with building. I want to be very clear and I have said this directly to the Technological Universities and will be saying it when I am with the Chairman and Senator Byrne when I am in the south-east on Monday, so let me say it again here. We are ready to talk and want to talk and are open for business in terms of the Technological Universities and the borrowing framework. They know this, in fairness, and they are working hard on this. We will work with them to accelerate and develop any plans they have to deliver student accommodation. It will be really important for the success of the TUs, Technological Universities, because they are about serving their region but also about attracting people into the region to study and to do that you need accommodation. I agree with that.

On the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and his officials for the excellent collaboration between my Department and his. We are extremely grateful for the work they are doing with us and for allowing us to take learning from some of the schemes they have put in place more broadly in society. We are interacting with the Cabinet Committee on Housing and we will be back to that committee this month as well on that. On the issue of affordability I have acknowledged the measures we are taking in the budget to put money back in people's pockets. The reason we are doing it is because we know people are experiencing rising costs. I know the Chair did not ask me but I should say, because the Chair and Senator Byrne regularly talk to me on this, the South-East Technological University moving ahead with securing the new site for the Wexford campus is a massive priority for us. There is funding set aside in my Department and I acknowledge and thank Mr. Enright, the chief executive of Wexford County Council, and the council for the role they are playing to secure that site for us.