Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The strategy is not withering on the vine. The targets of the strategy have all been exceeded. The 2019 target was exceeded and as of the second quarter of this year, some 10,700 bed spaces have been completed. I am making the point that we need to move beyond the strategy. This strategy measures how much private, purpose-built student accommodation was built. There is a role for that. I want the new strategy and new conversation to be about how we work with the regions and with all of universities, institutes of technology and technological universities so they can build their own accommodation. There is a significant shift that WIT will be aware of from its representative body's meeting with my Secretary General last week. We now have a mechanism to make sure that they can borrow again using the State's infrastructure to access cheap money. I am not going to be a bystander to this. If we are going to allow that, I want to have a conversation on what sort of accommodation it is and how it is affordable to students. There are examples in this country where the State's infrastructure or European infrastructure has been used and some of the accommodation that has been produced has had a prohibitive cost for students. That is not the direction of this policy. I am happy to engage with the Deputy further on this and make progress for the south east.

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