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

As I mentioned earlier, we hear the voice of the students who have been protesting today. Students are being affected by the cost-of-living crisis just like almost everyone else in our society. We are helping by increasing the student grant and making more people eligible for it, reducing the cost of student fees, reducing the cost of public transport and, crucially, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, is intervening to unlock some of the purpose-built student accommodation projects that have been delayed. There are 600 or 700 under way already - there is one in Galway, for example - but there are many in the pipeline that need be unlocked. The Minister is acting to do exactly that.

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