Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this very important Bill. I appreciate the attempts that have been made to reduce the cost of renting for students and, indeed, for all renters. There are many of them out there. Something needed to be done because some landlords were looking for two months' rent as a deposit and a month's rent upfront. For many people, that is not attainable. They cannot pay that amount and have not been able to do so.

One of the biggest hurdles that a family has to overcome is to provide the necessary funds for accommodation when their son or daughter comes of age and needs to go to university. Many people are lucky enough to get the SUSI grant, but many other members of hardworking families do not qualify for the grant. Whatever happens with Covid-19 pandemic, I appeal to the Minister of State not to let happen what happened last August, when the Government advised that colleges were opening. Families from all over, including Kerry and west Cork, drove to places such as Cork, Limerick and Galway cities, and indeed to Dublin, to look for accommodation for their sons and daughters. They paid deposits and rent for accommodation that was not used and had great difficulty in getting their money back. Surely, the Government knew in the days leading up to the start of September and the start of term that the colleges were not going to open.

I do not believe the Government is going to allow the pubs to open for indoor dining and drinking given the way it is talking. I would say it is after changing its tune. I hope it does not change its tune on the students like it did last year. Many of them did not get their money back. That was very unfair and wrong. Of course, the way to sort it out is to build more accommodation. The Minister has stood up on various days and said money is not an obstacle. If money is not an obstacle, put the bloody money on the table and build apartments in places such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway for the students. It is an awful problem and issue. There is a big event in every family's life when one, two, three or four children go to university. They are entitled to do so. They are entitled to be educated to the highest degree. I am glad that, back over the years, Irish students have graduated and become professors, engineers, teachers, doctors and surgeons. We are proud of them but we need that to continue. We need to ensure accommodation is available.

Costs are spiralling in the building industry. We see ridiculous things happening. Despite what the Green Party is saying, the cost of insulation is going up. It is applying the highest rate of VAT to it. What do the Greens stand for if they do not back up what they have been talking about? What have they been doing? They should not think they can cod the people because that will not happen. They might cod some of the people some of the time and all of the people some of the time but they will not cod all of the people all of the time. The time is drawing in on them now-----

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