Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Broin for bringing forward this Bill. Obviously, we will support it. It is right that student accommodation should be brought under the remit of the RTB in order that the sector can benefit from some of the protections, in terms of the rent caps and other protections, that are available to tenants in the private rented sector.

Deputy Ó Broin acknowledged, as did Deputy Darragh O’Brien, who had brought a similar Bill forward, that students’ correct determined decision to protest against outrageous rent increases by private landlords who own student property, particularly the DCU Shanowen shakedown protests but also, more recently, the protests around similarly shocking rent increases in Galway, has forced the issue onto the agenda. I should also mention that while the protest Trinity students held recently was to a large extent about the repeat fees, it had also been preceded by attempts by the college to significantly increase rents for the on-campus accommodation. It is good the students are fighting back. It is important that we here listen and do something. Therefore, I absolutely support this move.

However, I will go a little bit further and say that it is not enough. The problem is that rents are already too high. Limiting the increases, as would be done if we bring student accommodation under the RTB, to 4% is no good when student accommodation is already too expensive. It is better than nothing - at least, it prevents totally extortionate further increases - but it does not deal with the problem that student accommodation is already way beyond what is acceptable in terms of affordability for significant numbers of students, leading, as Deputy Barry stated, to shocking cases where people sleep in cars or where students are simply dropping out of college because they or their parents cannot afford the rents which have been allowed to reach the present extortionate levels.

Student accommodation, if one can get it, is averaging between €700 and €1,000 a month. Student grants are a maximum of €3,000 to €5,000 a year. If one is a less well-off student, or one of those who is not eligible for grants but whose parents might not have that much money, one is in trouble. It is a real problem.

It is a major problem that so much of the planned student accommodation the Government hopes will come on stream will be delivered by the private sector rather than the universities themselves building student accommodation that is set at affordable levels because, even if we bring it under the RTB, the providers can set the price of all the new accommodation at whatever they like. After that, they might be limited, if this Bill is passed, to an increase of 4% but when it is first rented they can charge whatever they like, and they are likely to charge rents that are completely unaffordable for students. Something has to be done to stop that from happening.

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