Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My answer is factual in the sense that I have to work within the laws of the land. Within the law of the land, higher education institutions are autonomous institutions that are responsible for their own day-to-day management and operational affairs. I have responsibility for making sure we put measures in place to help students with the costs of going to college, including the cost of rent. I recognise that the costs of rent and accommodation are now the biggest costs that any student will face when going to college. That is why I worked to make sure students could avail of the rent tax credit, as could their parents. We need to see a tweaking of that. The parents at the moment cannot avail of it if the student is in digs, but only the students. Some students do not earn enough to draw that down. I would like to see that being fixed in the budget. I would also like to see the rent tax credit perhaps being doubled in the budget. Crucially, I want to increase accommodation. We have already identified 1,100 units that we will subvent. When we are spending taxpayers’ money, we put in place clear rules around affordability that have not existed up until now.

On foot of this question, I will ask my Department to carry out an analysis for me of any of the hidden costs or additional charges that are being imposed on students. If the Deputy is saying to me that people are trying to find other ways of hiking up the rent outside of the spirit of the law that was passed by this House, that is something I would take a very dim view of.

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