Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Durkan for this question.

Of course, the Deputy is correct. Obviously, we need to look at what can be done quickly but we also need to look at how we can break what I believe now is a cycle in terms of this annual situation that students and their families encounter in trying to identify student accommodation. That is why I have changed student accommodation policy in Ireland.

It was the situation that it was left entirely to the market to decide whether to build student accommodation or not, or entirely to the university to decide whether or not to use its own reserves. Last year, we changed that position. Both last year and this year - we will do more between now and the summer - we approved a number of student accommodation projects which will be college-owned and part-funded by the taxpayer. That had not happened previously. That has meant €59 million has now been approved by the Government from taxpayers' funds to get projects moving. It has meant over 1,071 new student accommodation beds are now being built - they will be college-owned - that were not being built previously. It means, in Deputy Durkan's constituency, that Maynooth University, for example, got the go-ahead. It received sanction from the Government for millions of euro in taxpayers' money so that we can now build 116 beds of student accommodation in Maynooth. That as one example. We have more that we are hoping to get over the line between now and the summer recess.

In addition, we are being honest about the rent-a-room scheme. I see this as an important part of the overall framework too. Different students will have different needs and different things will work for different people. Having more college-owned purpose-built student accommodation is good but so is ensuring that students can rent a room. What used to be called "digs" is something that has worked for many years in Ireland. It worked for many students last year and I believe it will work again. We have changed the rules as a Government to make it easier for people to rent out that spare room. They can do it now without losing their medical card, for example. Local authority tenants can do it where previously they could not. A person can do it without losing any social protection payments and without having to pay any tax on the income generated from renting that room up to €14,000 a year.

There is a huge amount of work that we need to do in this area. There is a huge amount of work that we are doing in this area. My message to every college in Ireland is that if they bring forward their plans they will meet a Government willing to part-fund those plans and get them moving.

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