Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While I agree with much of the sentiment of what the Deputy has said, how we make these things happen is the challenge we have in Government. We have tried to take all of the actions we can take that are at our disposal in terms of how we financially support students and their families, recognising that this has been a year of extraordinary challenge and one no student could have imagined. I do not wish to be argumentative at this hour of the night but I do not believe it is particularly fair to suggest we have been slow or late in respect of the decision-making. When we look at other jurisdictions across the European Union and the likes we moved swiftly in saying to students that we need to move on-site, and students were very responsible in that regard. Had we not done that we would have ended up in a much deeper difficulty for more students in respect of student accommodation. I am committed to continuing to call out private landlords in terms of their responsibility to do the right thing, show the flexibility that is required and work with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I have already asked my officials to continue to engage with that Department to see if there is more that can be done in this space.

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