Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The cheapest student accommodation at UCD is more than €8,000 for the college term. The new student accommodation that is going to be provided at UCD costs €14,000 a year. That is just insanity. It is not acceptable. To be honest, the Government should intervene immediately to ensure that students and their families are not being screwed with that level of rent. It is not that I am a fan of HAP but, as I said, a temporary stop-gap must be introduced. People should not be paying that level of rent. I would be in favour of nationalising all the privately- and investor-built student accommodation. The developers are getting tax breaks and they are charging €1,000 a month in rent, which most students cannot afford. Then there is the bigger issue of the need for major investment in providing student accommodation that is affordable on campus or near campus.

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