Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to start by thanking the USI, in particular, the president, Ms Lorna Fitzpatrick, and the vice president for campaigns, Mr. Craig McHugh, for all of the work that they have done in progressing this important legislation. I would also like to thank all of the 56 Opposition Deputies who co-signed the legislation - my colleagues in Sinn Féin but also Deputies from the Social Democrats, the Labour Party, People before Profit, Solidarity and RISE, and from Independents 4 Change. It is also heartening to see that this Bill is passing through the House today unanimously. Every Deputy who has spoken has spoken in favour of both the spirit as well as the substance of the Bill and that is a welcome fact.

In particular, I welcome the commitments by both the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to support this legislation, although I urge a small note of caution. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage mentioned a residential tenancies (amendment) Bill. It is not in the priority list of legislation that was published last week and therefore, while work on the heads of that Bill is progressing, it is unlikely we will see that until the early autumn. It is unlikely it will progress until late in or by the end of the year. Unfortunately, students do not have that time to wait. I urge both Ministers who spoke today but also members of the Oireachtas housing committee to allow this Bill to progress to committee as a matter of urgency for us to undertake the necessary pre-legislative scrutiny and, if possible, to pass this Bill in advance of the residential tenancies Bill from the Government in order to give students the protections they deserve as early as possible. That would be the most preferable outcome. Having said that, we will always work with Government on progressive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act and I look forward to the heads of Bill being published by the Minister whenever they are ready.

It is important for anybody watching this debate to fully understand that the passage of this Bill today unfortunately does not mean these protections come in immediately and therefore, I urge USI and students across the State to continue campaigning for the full enactment of this legislation. In fact, there is quite a lot of work for us to do to continue that.

As other Opposition Deputies have said, this is a good example of what happens when civil society, which is raising a real concern for the constituency it represents, engages with progressive politicians from a range of parties, tables good quality legislation scrutinised and enhanced by the office of parliamentary legislative advice and leans on the Government to do something that the Government may well have done in its own time but will certainly now be forced to do at a much speedier pace.

I would also like to make a couple of comments on the Minister, Deputy Harris's comments on the student accommodation strategy. This is obviously an area of work on which my colleague, Deputy Conway-Walsh, leads out but given that I have the opportunity to respond, I do not think my colleague will object. I welcome the admission by the Minister that there are significant flaws in the student accommodation strategy that s now expiring. The Minister is correct. It always over-relied on private sector provision to the detriment of not-for-profit on-campus provision by universities and institutes of technology, ITs. The Minister is correct that the inability of ITs to borrow meant that they were not able to provide on-campus accommodation. It is something on which I and my party have been calling for Government to take action for three years. I genuinely welcome that. That could be significant. However, that, in and of itself, will not allow the scale of on-campus or near-campus student accommodation necessary to be provided. The Minister will be aware that the Government's strategy identified a 20,000 bed-space shortfall at the start of the strategy and notwithstanding an increase in provision, public and private, there was still to be a 20,000 bed shortfall by the end.

I commend two other ideas to the Minister and maybe he can discuss these with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The first is to look at some of the supports that are currently being provided to local authorities and approved housing bodies for the delivery of affordable cost-rental accommodation. Similar funding streams could be provided by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to assist universities and ITs to structure their loan arrangements in such a way that they can have longer maturities and, therefore, lower rents for students.

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Second, there are very significant capital provisions for AHBs that reduce the overall borrowing costs by providing softer loans to be repaid to government at a future date. A combination of some smart thinking about the financial underpinning of on-campus student accommodation by universities and institutes of technology, if the Government was of a mind, could go a long way.

I thank Deputies for supporting this Bill and urge everyone to keep the campaign going to get this legislation passed by all Houses and signed by the President to give students the fair play they deserve as a matter of urgency.

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