Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is not that; it is grubby behaviour that should be called out as exactly what it is. The Government could not be clearer; the student accommodation in Sligo will not be used for anything other than students as far as the State is concerned. I am beyond disappointed that despite that message being clearly conveyed, private student accommodation is sitting, to my understanding, largely idle. I am clear on the planning conditions attached to that and I hope everybody is clear on that because we have planning laws in this country and they need to be abided by. That is student accommodation and it needs to be used for students.

I will come back on other issues another time but I want to be clear; we worked hard and the Deputy worked hard with us to establish a technological university in the north-west, the Atlantic Technological University, ATU. It is going well but a core part of this is having access to student accommodation and making sure that people, not just from the region but from outside the region, including international students who come to ATU, have accommodation in Sligo, and I know that is a particular concern too. I have agreed a protocol with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and everyone in this country wants to help with the humanitarian crisis. I am proud of how people have opened their homes, hearts, minds and communities to welcoming people from Ukraine but I am also clear that from a social cohesion point of view, student accommodation is for students; that is what it is needed for. We make it available outside of the time it is in use and when it is not needed but when it is needed it needs to be used for student accommodation. We have a clear protocol on that.

It is disappointing that despite so much work, the private market has still decided not to make this accommodation available to students. I hope people reflect on that and I appeal to their better nature to do that. This teaches me that we cannot be reliant on the private market. It is the best example of why we need to build our own accommodation and we have allocated, as the Deputy knows, €1 million to the technological universities to come up with plans for student accommodation. I can tell the Deputy with hand on heart that when ATU and others come forward with accommodation plans in 2024, the Government will be forthcoming in supporting and advancing this because this shows the vulnerability there is if you are entirely reliant on the private market.

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