Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am in full agreement with this Bill. Our students and younger generation have suffered greatly during Covid-19. The pandemic has exposed the severe economic injustice students face in the rental market. Thousands of students and their families have been forced to pay for accommodation they were prohibited from using. It is no longer acceptable for the Government to act as a spectator while wholesale financial exploitation of students continues. The speedy and successful passing of legislation is vital to ensure students of third level institutions are protected. It is incumbent on all Oireachtas Members to right the wrong which has facilitated the fleecing of students and their families when it comes to student accommodation. Many students in west County Cork are, together with their families, under this kind of stress and I am being contacted about it on a regular basis.

The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, has said he does not have the tools to do anything. Its sponsors believe this Bill provides the Minister with the necessary tools and now it is up to him. Emergency measures must be put in place to allow students to rent with some degree of confidence in light of the uncertainties still remaining ahead of the new academic year. According to the USI, students should, at the very least, be allowed partial refunds for university and college accommodation because they are not spending as much time there due to the pandemic. Students and their parents should not be financially penalised for following Government guidelines. A Government support scheme to refund returns of rent for students may also be needed, as some landlords' properties may have been taken over by the banks. Some students feel they should not be paying for accommodation when they are not there. Many students renting student accommodation currently pay a term in advance. This usually runs from September to May and can cost from €5,000 on average in Galway to €9,000 on average at UCD. Students and their parents paying for this accommodation are generally from outside Dublin and Cork and are from rural counties with no universities. In many cases parents are paying costs for more than one student at a time.

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