Dáil debates

Tuesday, 28 September 2021

5:45 pm

Photo of Rose Conway-WalshRose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----in the short term. This is for all the students who are in hostels, in hotel rooms or who are sleeping on floors as we speak. The Government's housing plan states that universities have developed a significant amount of student accommodation in recent years, another statement that is divorced from reality and shows how out of touch is the Government.

Since 2017, the year the student accommodation strategy was published, only 679 on-campus student accommodation places have been added, with the increase in student numbers and the ever-increasing share of student accommodation going to attract high-fee international students. The reality is more students are competing for comparatively fewer on-campus beds. The only other initiative for this policy is around the technological universities, and I welcome and support that. The Minister has left students behind in the housing plan so I ask him to address the crisis and emergency that is there.

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