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

It sounds good until we look at the facts. With regard to access, 90% of students in Donnybrook attend university but 16% of students in Darndale do so. This reflects the fact there are so many different barriers to access. The cost of living per annum while studying at third level is €12,000, which is a big expense. We have some of the highest registration fees anywhere in Europe and accommodation costs increased 11.5% in the first quarter of 2018 alone.

Ms Michelle Byrne, vice president of the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, spoke at a meeting we held during the week and she told me an incredible story that she says is typical. She related how a young postgraduate student is travelling every day from Cork to Dublin and back again to attend her third-level institution because she cannot afford student accommodation. At Dublin City University, student accommodation providers tried to increase rents by 27%. The Irish Universities Association has pointed out that we are now have one of the lowest levels of investment per student anywhere in Europe and, as already stated, that investment has dropped 50% since 2008. There was only a 1% overall increase in the recent budget, which is not good enough.

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