Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last week, I met representatives from the Union of Students in Ireland at an open day. I was surprised that most of the students were the first members of their families to attend college. Their main concern is accommodation. The shortage of accommodation is forcing students to compete with families and professionals for accommodation. The problem is that students have no choice but to go for the accommodation. Their first preference would be purpose-built accommodation. At present, only universities get grants; the institutes of technology do not. If we can release these students from looking for private accommodation it would help. What is the proposal going forward to help deal with student accommodation?

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