Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party and our housing spokesperson, Senator Moynihan, thank the USI for all the work it has put into this Bill. We also thank Deputies Ó Broin and Conway-Walsh for putting Second Stage of the Bill on the clár.

It is most welcome to hear the Minister indicate the Bill will pass to Committee Stage. There is cross-party consensus that it is something that needs to be done. We have known for years that students have been absolutely rinsed in terms of rent. However, what the pandemic has brought to the fore is that they have continued to be rinsed by paying rent for accommodation without having the use of it. It has been incredible. Unfortunately, it took this unique global event and circumstance to get the legislative impetus behind this Bill. It looks like it is going in the right direction.

Our hope is that it will get to Committee Stage and pass that Stage soon so that it can become law. I welcome what the Minister said in respect of implementing the best parts of the Bill. In advance of Committee Stage, I would be interested in hearing the Minister's thoughts on what are the worst or weak parts of the Bill, so that we can be prepared for the Committee Stage debate and can ensure the Bill passes in a form that most closely resembles its current form.

This is a good Bill and one that should be impossible to block, given how much sense it makes and how much it will help people who need it. It should give us a moment to view how we, as a society, have viewed students. One of the previous speakers from Sinn Féin - I think it was Deputy Farrell and apologies if it was not - used the term "cash cows". Non-EU students, including American students coming to Ireland to do master's degrees, are viewed as cash cows. However, students availing of student accommodation, the very basics of shelter, in order to pursue their studies are also viewed as cash cows. That is wrong. It is absolutely disgraceful. We must view students for what they are - an investment in our future and the progression of our country and nation - and stop viewing them with euro signs over their heads.

We have seen a proliferation of purpose-built student accommodation crop up in our major cities. Why is that the case? It is because it has been very profitable for either universities, large funds or wealthy investors to create this purpose-built student accommodation. It is not for ease of access for students or to lower barriers to access third level education but to make money, and a lot of it.

One of the more egregious corners of our economy is how we are rinsing so many different elements of society for rent. We pride ourselves as a nation in saying that everyone will have access to education, the ceiling is high, the sky is the limit and young people can do whatever they want but that is not the case. The barrier still exists. Sometimes the barrier to third level education is generational in nature, access has not existed in a family or individuals in a community who go to third level are outliers rather than the norm. That must be changed in terms of how we promote third level in secondary schools and how we make it easier to access it in terms of understanding what needs to be done. For many people, the barrier to access is financial and economic in nature. For some people, it means they cannot pursue what they want to pursue because the course they want to do may be in a third level institution that is outside of the city in which they live. In Dublin, many students will have an advantage in that they may be able to live at home.

However, many people cannot afford to move to Dublin. Likewise, many people who live in Dublin want to go to Cork or elsewhere to study. Some want to attend agricultural college, for example, or simply want a different experience, but they cannot afford it. This Bill tackles that issue and it needs to pass through Committee Stage as soon as possible.

I welcome the soundings we are hearing so far. We are proud, as a party, to support the Bill. Students need proper, affordable education and there must be an easy pathway to access it. We cannot have a situation where students end up financially crippled as a result of pursuing education. Whatever the qualification, whether it is obtained at university, a further education institution or in a trade, once people obtain it, they are ready to contribute to society and build their lives and communities. They must not be left crippled with debt, whether from the cost of accommodation, fees or anything else associated with getting that qualification. We need to invest in our young people and support them. We must ensure that the ceiling on what they can do is raised as high as possible but the hurdles they have to jump are not so high that they cannot get over them.

Going back to my original point, for too long there has been an explaining away of the hardships of securing accommodation and going to college or university as some kind of rite of passage. That is a load of absolute rubbish. Getting affordable shelter above their heads in order that students can live and study in comfort is not a rite of passage. It is a right, and we need to support it. This Bill supports that right and I hope it will go through the Houses as soon as possible.

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