Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I think there are four actions we need to take. The first is that we need to take a flexible local approach. We have said several times that we want to hear from any higher education institution in any part of the country that has a local solution. If there is something that can be done on campus or near campus, or if the institution has a building that can be converted into student accommodation, we want to hear about it, and we will provide assistance in making that happen. There is an example of this approach being taken in Limerick, the constituency of the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, where the technological university there worked with the local authority to deliver a local solution. The second action we need to take, which I have discussed with students, is to get the rent-a-room scheme up and running again. If people have a spare room, they can earn up to €14,000 tax-free while renting out a room. That is a scheme that has traditionally worked well. I accept that USI wants assurances around the protection for students in what it refers to as digs. That is a valid issue. The third element is the borrowing framework. We have provided legal clarity that the new technological universities, which were previously institutes of technology, of which there is one in the Deputy's constituency, can borrow to build for the first time. The fourth is the new model that I am working on, which I believe will require an intervention from the State to unleash the potential to build many thousands of on-campus college-owned student accommodation units.

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