Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That has been a clear and positive development in recent years and the Minister outlined some of the figures relating to planning permissions granted to third level institutions.

Whatever decisions are made by the Government following the debate on the cost-of-education paper, I will be keen to ensure that whatever investment is put in place, particularly in support of students, is ongoing and sustainable. Sustainability is key to ensuring a level playing field and allowing people from all backgrounds to access education. In my time 25 years ago, there were students in receipt of grants who might not necessarily have needed them because of a rather obscure way of evaluating their household incomes versus the household incomes of individuals living in cities, who could not qualify despite the extraordinary cost of third level.

I cannot stress enough that the issue of accommodation is one of the main constraints. In recent days, we heard of a student who had to travel nearly five hours per day and did not get home until nearly 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. I believe he was from rural Longford. The plea of such students is for us to double down on the provision of affordable student accommodation.

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