Dáil debates

Tuesday, 12 July 2022

Raise the Roof: Motion [Private Members]

 

8:50 pm

Photo of Rose Conway-WalshRose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Earlier, the Tánaiste said this is a good Government. However, it is not if you are a student looking for affordable accommodation. We are hurtling headlong into an accommodation crisis for students like we have never seen before. It is the biggest barrier to third level education today. This is especially true of students in rural areas. Many end up having to commute extraordinary distances because they are unable to secure any accommodation. The on-campus projects are being shelved because colleges are rightly unwilling to advance projects that will deliver accommodation that is far too expensive for the majority of students. We already have student accommodation in public universities that cost €1,300 and more. We desperately need a student accommodation strategy, in partnership with colleges and students' unions, delivering genuinely affordable accommodation for students on or near campus and greater protection for students in digs-like accommodation.

I want to turn to Mayo. There are only 22 properties to rent in Mayo. I want the Minister to hear the story in the headlines in The Western Peopleof Niamh O’Malley, who, with her autistic son, is at risk of homelessness because she cannot find a property for less than €1,500 per month, which is all she can afford. She cannot find one. She says:

I work hard and mother harder. It is society who has failed us and the cards I've been dealt. I'm not looking for pity. I wake up every day and night and search for homes. I feel the fear in my belly and yet I still mother. I still show up every single day. I'm not ashamed to share my story. People deserve to know how others are being treated in 2022.

Those are her words, not mine.

I want to finish on the issue of apprenticeships. We say this is the great success of the Government, but the truth is fewer apprenticeships have qualified tradespeople in 2021 than they did in 2017. We need to look at the figures, be honest with people, and deal with this.

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