Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On Thursday, 25 February 2021, I was delighted to join with the many other co-signers to the introduction of the Residential Tenancies (Student Rents and Other Protections) (Covid-19) Bill 2021. It is a great example of the left working together with civil society groups on an important housing issue. The Bill, tabled by Sinn Féin, was developed in conjunction with the USI. As awful as the Covid-19 pandemic has been, in some ways it has brought opportunity and we should ensure we make positive societal and policy changes when we can.

One would be forgiven for thinking that the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science was still in his previous role as Minister for Health. I feel like we hear more from him on Covid-19 issues than on the myriad issues affecting tens of thousands of third level students, although he may also be off making TikTok videos and getting the Tánaiste to make cameo appearances. That seems exactly like what our third level students need. Maybe the Minister will be releasing songs in an indie style, trying to get Michael Fry to duet with him.

The websitewww.citizensinformation.iecontains the following information in the section on third level students and Covid for those who are renting:

You are expected to pay rent during the emergency period. Any rent arrears built up will be payable, but landlords have been asked to show understanding and reach local arrangements in these circumstances.

Ah yes, because landlords have been notoriously understanding, empathetic and generous when it comes to issues in the rental market. The recently published European Universities Association’s public funding observatory report looked into 32 higher education systems over the past 15 years or so. The report indicates that there were 155,000 students in Irish universities in 2008, with a budget of €1.5 billion and 19,300 full-time staff. By 2020, the number of staff had not changed and the budget had been reduced to €1.4 billion but there had been a 37% increase in the number of students to 213,000. Students have been penalised by the inadequacy of Government action and the lack of planning and decisiveness on the part of many third level institutions. Students have to be on-site for lectures, find a room to rent or move only to find out that their lectures will be remote. For many more rural areas, this has been a positive, as long as there is an adequate broadband connection to enable students to partake in online learning. It means that smaller towns and villages have not haemorrhaged as many young people as usual.

On students living at home and studying close by or moving away and renting. It all comes down to choice and access. According to the statistics available on the Higher Education Authority’s website, students in the 2018 and 2019 term from Donegal were most likely to attend UCD, Dublin City University or Trinity College Dublin. Only 2.6% are recorded as attending Letterkenny Institute of Technology, LYIT. However, when one compares that with those ranked as being in disadvantaged areas according to the deprivation index, it rises to 6.9% of students attending LYIT and 20.7% attending National University of Ireland Galway. In 2018, just 1,450 students graduated from LYIT, 57% of whom were female and 43% of whom were male. The majority of those students were studying business, administration and law, with the second most popular area of study being health and welfare. Those are interesting statistics about deprivation and the access students have.

The Bill before us relates to rental obligations and notice periods and will provide for certain landlords to refund payments, if necessary, relating to Covid-19. The Bill amends a number of sections of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. It inserts a new section 13A and a new section 17A. It amends section 23 and inserts a new section 23A. It also amends sections 60, 66, 75, 78 and 115. It is a detailed and comprehensive Bill and would make a real difference to those covered by its terms and provisions.

It is more than one year since Covid hit and we introduced a range of protections for residents throughout the country. Rents were frozen and evictions were banned while people were being asked to stay home and stay safe. Some protections were introduced in March and then in October 2020, and another eviction ban was introduced for any time when we were to be restricted to travelling 5 km from home due to Covid-19 restrictions. This also allowed for a ten-day grace period after 12 April 2021. Rental laws were introduced to protect tenants who may have been economically affected by Covid-19 and fallen into rent arrears. The rent freeze and a 90-day notice period for ending a tenancy will be in place until 12 July 2021 but none of this applies to students.

A conversation has been taking place since the beginning of the pandemic with regard to how students and student accommodation should be treated. Many students have licence agreements, in-house shares or rent-a-room options and therefore do not benefit from the full suite of tenancy protections, or any in some cases.

This is why I co-signed this Bill, why I am happy to support it and why I urge the Government to accept it. Students have endured serious upheaval and confusion owing to inaction and indecision on the part of the Government and institutions alike. They should not be out of pocket for it too. It should not all be to benefit the private sector.

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