Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am just speaking on amendment No. 12, which is about the potential voluntary opt-out for tenants from these protections. I understand there is a rationale for this. It has been explained as allowing for a situation where international students pay for accommodation and fees as a bundle or as a package. I agree with Deputy Ó Broin that this opt-out is wide open to exploitation in the interim while it is envisaged to bring more specific measures forward in the autumn to deal with this. I have a concern. I support the protections being brought forward, but any protections should apply to all renters and tenants, be they students or otherwise, or international students or otherwise. While I accept there has been a practice to sell educational courses in bundles or packages with accommodation, this potentially leaves international students open to be exploited to a degree that other renters would not be. That is unfair and discriminatory.

There was a situation this year where many international students were mis-sold packages of courses here with accommodation. They were given assurances that they would get in person, on-campus teaching for a year. After they paid for their accommodation and courses, those assurances were withdrawn. I think some of the colleges and institutions that gave those assurances may well have known they could not stand over those assurances. That was beyond their control. These protections should apply to all, including international students. I do not agree with the opt-out. It is important that, in the future, international students are protected from that.

There was a cohort of international students who paid for their accommodation upfront, who were living in isolation in cities and parts of Ireland where they did not know people and had not met friends through college or campus life. They had no recourse to get any of their fees back on their accommodation. Given the conditions they found themselves in, a number of them would have preferred to return to their home country to continue their course online. They were stuck in the situation of having paid their entire accommodation fees upfront. They were in the same situation that other students were unfairly stuck in. The intent of extending the protections should apply to all. There should not be an intention to provide an opt-out, albeit considered voluntary or otherwise, for international students. I will press the amendment. While I accept there is a rationale, I do not agree with it.

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