Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join the Deputy in congratulating Dr. Orla Flynn. I think she will be an excellent president. I wish her luck and look forward to Atlantic Technological University, ATU, coming into being shortly.

The Deputy has hit the nail on the head. One of the institutions is already asking what it can do locally. For the first time here we are making a shift in policy and having an open-door policy for any local solution or idea that can come forward, particularly those with immediate solutions for September.

More broadly, though, I have admitted that we need to change policy when it comes to student accommodation. We do not need better speaking points to explain it; we need to change the policy. That is why I am meeting the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. I am looking at the Land Development Agency as it develops across the country and whether student accommodation can be a part of that. The Minister and I are looking at a cost-rental model and whether there is room for that, what we need to do and whether there are grant-aid options to make it sustainable for the colleges to build. I will update the Cabinet committee on housing at the beginning of April on options in that regard.

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