Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Thousands of students are marching in protest from the Garden of Remembrance to the Dáil today to protest the Government's failure to tackle student accommodation crisis and the soaring cost of going to college. Students tell us that they are drowning in costs as they struggle to afford third-level education. So many cannot find an affordable home near to their college, so they couch surf, commute exceptionally long distances or, if they are lucky, they are forced to pay rip-off rent. This is having a terrible impact on their education and their mental health and general well-being. Students feel that the accommodation crisis is robbing them of a future in Ireland. Students have been telling their stories to their union, the Union of Students in Ireland, USI. One student said;

It impacts my studies. I have to choose between buying my dinner or paying my rent.

Another said:

I am in a constant stress of how I will make enough to pay the bills. I haven't had a good sleep in two months. I'm constantly waking up unable to focus and feeling helpless at times.

Another said:

I commute. I have lost out on my social life and I'm completely burnt out. Another three years left on my course and it feels like torture.

The accommodation crisis faced by students is just one symptom of Government's wider failure in housing. An entire generation is locked out of affordable housing and homeownership, of opportunity and of a decent future. On the watch of this Government, any semblance affordability has been torn to shreds. Record rents keep rising and house prices are sky-high. The lack of affordable housing means we have students choosing between financial hardship or dropping out. Thousands of young adults find themselves stuck living at home with their parents, and many finally decide just to leave Ireland to have their chance at a better future. They get their qualifications having done the training and then they board planes to Perth, Toronto or Boston.

It is, therefore, little wonder that the crisis has become a barrier to employers hiring workers, schools hiring teachers and hospitals hiring nurses and doctors. What has the Government response been? No urgency, no pace, no ambition. The Government's affordable housing delivery for the first six months of this year is paltry. It is a drop in the ocean of what is required to turn the tide. Níl sa ghéarchéim lóistín mhac léinn ach léiriú ar an bhfadhb go bhfuil ag teipeadh ar an Rialtas arís agus arís eile ó thaobh tithíochta. Tá gá le méadú ollmhór ar sholáthar tithe ar phraghas réasúnta. Teastaíonn Rialtas ó oibrithe, ó theaghlaigh agus ó mhic léinn a chuirfidh deireadh leis an ngéarchéim tithíochta.

Taoiseach, your 12 years in government is a story of Fine Gael failure in housing. From what the Government has been leaking so far, it appears that it will continue that record of failure in next week's budget. The truth is there needs to be a radical change of direction in housing. No more excuses and no more skirting around the edges of the problem. It is time to make housing affordable again for workers, families and those students who are protesting today. Next week's budget must represent that change. That means providing investment necessary for a massive scaling up in the delivery of affordable housing. Will the Taoiseach commit to that essential funding, and a huge increase in funding, in next week's budget? Can he specifically tell me what action he proposes to take to address the student accommodation crisis?

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