Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First of all, I would say that the situation is challenging in respect of student accommodation. It is reflective of the wider issues in terms of housing supply and new construction, and also viability issues in terms of land that universities own but are not in a position to develop with developers on the basis of what they believe is a viability gap between the cost of that student accommodation if it was to be built and what students could realistically be prepared to pay. The Minister has met with the presidents and chairs of all the traditional universities and the technological universities to discuss any immediate proposals they may have identified for additional student accommodation provision in the short to medium term. The Department is continuing to work with them in that regard. That said, the University of Galway was in a position this academic year to provide an additional 670 bed spaces which will come on stream not immediately but later this year.

There is an issue of viability in terms of the cost of building which is somewhat similar to what we had to do with the Croí Cónaithe scheme. We introduced the Croí Cónaithe scheme to deal with the viability gap in brownfield sites in built-up dense areas of inner cities. The market is saying it cannot build on such sites for affordable prices and the State has had to intervene to try to bridge that viability gap. The same has applied in respect of student accommodation and we are looking at mechanisms to see how we can do that.

Successive Fianna Fáil Ministers, include me in the late 1990s and early 2000s, took measures that have resulted in very high participation rates in third level education in Ireland. Ireland enjoys one of the highest participation rates in third level education in Europe. That said, I accept that accommodation and its cost is the big problem for students.

This year the Ministers, Deputy Harris and Michael McGrath, brought in a range of measures in the budget to support students, not least the reduction of fees by €1,000. The SUSI grant of €17.4 million will allow a once-off extra payment, equivalent to one month's maintenance, to be made to all student maintenance grant recipients by December. A once-off increase of €1,000 will support postgraduate students who meet the eligibility criteria for a postgraduate fee contribution grant. That grant will now go up to €4,500. Some €8 million is being put into the student assistance fund. A once-off payment of €500 is being made in 2022 to PhD students who receive an Irish Research Council or Science Foundation Ireland award. The Minister has taken a range of other measures to offer relief to students in 2023-24 and make things a bit more manageable for them during what is a very difficult period with the energy situation. We have brought in the rent credit of €1,000. It will be of value of €1,000 to renters, €500 in 2022 and €500 in 2023. Student accommodation is capped under the rent pressure zones.

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