Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are two elements here. Everybody benefits from extra supply. If we take Maynooth University, we know for every person who got a student accommodation bed on campus this year there were six applications. Therefore, even at current market rates there is demand for more. To be clear, what we are funding are not-for-profit units. We are funding publicly-funded institutions to deliver student accommodation. It is student accommodation that has to wash its face but not student accommodation seeking to make profit. Every cent the taxpayer invests will have to see a return in the form of affordability measures and that means below-market rents. I accept there is detail to be worked through. The Deputy is right on the construction. These are projects that will go to construction in 2023 but we must break the cycle. We cannot just look at this from September to September. We must take a new policy initiative that will begin to improve things. There are other student accommodation beds coming on stream. There are, for example, 674 units in Galway that are due to be completed in January that will be available for students in September. They are separate to this.

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