Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The student accommodation crisis has become something of a permanent issue for students who are trying to access third level education in this State. The Union of Students in Ireland, USI, has said that the situation is the worst it has ever been. Students in Galway are sleeping in tents and are protesting not just at the deficit in accommodation, but also at the absolute absence of student accommodation in this State. Last September, representatives of USI were outside the gates of this House, protesting at the fact that thousands of students had been left without a place to live at the start of the new academic year. At the beginning of this September, the chaplain of the new Technological University of the Shannon said he understood that the number of beds available to students in Athlone this year had fallen by 500 because of the unprecedented number of international protection applicants who have been housed in this region. Perhaps the kindest thing we can say about all this is that it is an omnishambles, which has been made worse and prolonged as a direct result of Government policy and the failure to act quickly enough when it became clear that private and institutional on-campus accommodation was being gobbled up to meet the demands of what the Minister for housing has described as "our international obligations".

I wish to focus on another element of this crisis. We are now confronted with a very real danger that access to third level education will again become the preserve of the wealthy and those fortunate enough to have very high incomes. This is what is happening. With rent levels now routinely approaching €1,000 per month, it is next to impossible for the majority of students to afford this without incurring substantial debt or deferring indefinitely. Even those on the highest rate of Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grants cannot afford such rates. This is not only tragic but ironic, given that it was the admirable actions of statesmen like Donogh O'Malley which proved instrumental in opening our education system to those who had been excluded because of a lack of means. Over 50 years ago and under one Fianna Fáil Minister, access to education became a right. Under the current Fianna Fáil Minister for housing and the Taoiseach's Government, this may yet regress to become a privilege. It does not make any difference if this is not the Taoiseach's intention. It is the result of the Government's policies, which are plain to see.

I accept that the Minister, Deputy Harris, has secured a reduction in costs in the budget but all of those benefits will remain purely theoretical - or, I might even say, academic - if getting to college goes the same way as home ownership more generally, which is a fading dream for an entire generation. Will the Taoiseach commit to re-establishing the education disadvantage committee, which did great work and which can become a forum to tackle this issue and the barriers to third level education?

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