Dáil debates

Tuesday, 29 May 2018

Residential Tenancies (Student Rents, Rights and Protection) Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members]

 

8:45 pm

Photo of Martin KennyMartin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are discussing what happens when children who are seeking to go to college, particularly in Dublin, encounter accommodation problems and their families at home try to pay for that accommodation. We often talk about the presence of free education in our society, but even those who are fortunate enough to receive the maximum SUSI grant cannot afford to send their children to college, especially in Dublin. Many people in my community in County Leitrim have told me about the cases of students who had their hearts set on a place in a particular college but could not go to it because accommodation was going to be too expensive. Instead, they accepted courses in other places that were further down their lists because accommodation was somewhat cheaper. That is a poor reflection on the society in which we live and on where we are as a country.

We pride ourselves on having a highly intelligent and well educated workforce. The future lies in having a good and intelligent workforce and an excellent education system. I think everyone in this House and those who are looking in from the outside acknowledge that our efforts to achieve these goals are clearly hampered by the lack of availability of good accommodation for students, particularly in Dublin but also in other parts of the country. The case of Shanowen Hall near Dublin City University shone a light on this problem earlier this year. It is a disgrace that students are having to protest to try to find adequate accommodation in which to live. If that is what we have come to as a society, we need to wake up and realise something serious is wrong. The commodification of student accommodation, as something that can be bought and sold, is at the heart of what is wrong. Large companies that have built huge blocks of apartments to use as student accommodation are using it as an opportunity to fleece families that are trying to put their children through college.

I know that the Government will probably acknowledge that there is a problem, but acknowledging it does not go far enough. It is clear that we need to come to a solution that will ensure tenants in student accommodation are treated with respect, just like any other tenant in any other accommodation across the country. If we want this to happen, one of the first steps we need to take is to ensure the Bill will receive the full support of the House. The Government should accept it and put it into law, thereby ensuring students will have the same rights as other tenants. Although that would not go far enough, it would go part of the ways towards resolving, or certainly highlighting, this issue.

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