Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The rise in the cost of living is affecting everyone and it is affecting students too. We understand that. We get that. Students want their voices heard and, by protesting today, they are making sure that their voices are heard. They will be heard in this House and by this Government.

I will give the Deputy a few examples of what we have announced only in the past few weeks, such as a reduction in college fees by €1,000 this year and by €500 on a permanent basis from next year and we intend to build on that in the years ahead. There will be a one-off increase in the student grant before Christmas which will put more money back in students' pockets; a 10% to 14% increase in the student grant from January and eligibility for the student grant is being widened in order that approximately 15,000 students, who do not currently qualify for a grant, will qualify for one next year.

We have also reduced the cost of public transport for students by up to 50% and more purpose-built student accommodation will be built in the next months and years. The four things we are doing to help students with the cost of living are cutting the student fee, increasing the student grant, reducing the cost of public transport and building more purpose-built student accommodation, which is desperately needed, as the Deputy rightly points out.

It is worth saying that we have more students in Ireland now than ever before. That is very positive. This generation of school leavers is more likely to receive third level education and further and higher education than any generation that has gone before it. It is also more likely to be in employment and, as we know from migration statistics, more Irish citizens return every year than leave. That has been the case for a number of years.

Like all sectors of society, students are very much suffering when it comes to the impact of the housing crisis and very high rents. We absolutely acknowledge that.

With regard to the question that the Deputy raised on student accommodation, the Minister, Deputy Harris, taking the lead on this. He has the authority of the Government to do so in co-operation, of course, with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. Hundreds of student accommodation places are under construction at present of which 600 alone are located not too far away from the Deputy in the University of Galway.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, is putting together a financial package to help unlock student accommodation developments, where permission is granted but they cannot proceed, because they are not financially viable. He is putting together financial aid for universities, including technological universities, to unlock those developments and get them under construction within the next year. That will really help by providing more purpose-built student accommodation on campus. It must be done at affordable rates, because much of the student accommodation that exists, especially in this city, is extremely expensive.

The rent tax credit, as the Deputy is aware, is a credit of €500 per year per renter not per tenancy. If three or four people are sharing house, it will be up to €2,000. It applies to students where they are income tax payers but we acknowledge that in many cases, students do not earn enough to pay income tax and their parents are paying the rent for them. Therefore the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is examining whether it is possible to extend the rent tax credit to parents who pay student fees on behalf of their children. We hope we can do that. Sometimes these things are easier promised than done but we hope we can do that and we should be in a position to confirm whether we can do it by next Tuesday, when the finance Bill comes to Cabinet.

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