Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have already outlined to the Deputy some of the immediate measures we are taking to try to help in the here and now around financial assistance, around the student assistance fund and around the circular. That circular, which the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien issued, is very strong and makes very clear that student accommodation during the college year should be just for student accommodation. We also need to look at how we can get back to promoting the initiative where people can avail of renting a room, and there is some tax-free income that people can benefit from. There probably was an impact from Covid in that regard, which did not help the situation this year.

I have a whole folder here and I can give the Deputy a load of statistics about how the supply has increased or about how there is more purpose-built student accommodation now than ever before. I am not going to waste the House’s time reading that out because it misses the point. It suggests that I think everything is okay and I certainly do not. It is my position and the position of the Government that we need a significant policy shift when it comes to college accommodation and student accommodation, and that is what I am going to deliver with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and with the technological universities, the institutes of technology and the universities in the coming weeks and months. I accept there are lead-in times to all of these things but it is still the right thing to do. I cannot just engage in short-termism. I need to look at how we can get college-owned student accommodation built, not just in our capital city but also in the regions and with a particular focus on the new technological universities.

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