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

There has been a proliferation of private developments of student accommodation. This accommodation costs an absolute fortune. It is a complete waste of time because people are just making money out of a student accommodation crisis. We need purpose-built low-cost student accommodation on or near campuses. That needs significant investment. I will make a simple point on overall investment in third-level education. We give €700 million in research and development tax credits, mostly to big multinationals in this country. That money should be redirected to our universities and third-level education. Instead of giving money to Apple and Google through tax breaks for so-called research and development, it should go to our universities in order to offset the chronic underinvestment to which I refer.

This crisis is taking a serious toll on students. We have the fourth highest rate of youth suicide in the world. The USI report indicates an absolutely massive demand for counselling services in universities, with tens of thousands of students needing counselling and a large number reporting burnout or an inability to carry on because of the stress they are being put under on all fronts, including in the context of costs, accommodation, overcrowding, etc. There is a serious problem and we need a hell of a lot more investment and support to address the crisis.

See this speech in context