Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The short answer is that for the digs you do not. We had this issue last year too. I plan to publish a new student accommodation strategy by the end of the year. I prioritised trying to move on the legacy projects that had planning permission but that had stalled for economic reasons. I think on balance that was the right call. Those were priorities one, two and three. We will have a new strategy towards the end of the year.

We need to get to a situation where we have more college-owned affordable accommodation, built to meet the needs of students and no more than that. As we increase core funding into our universities, which we are, I hope the point made by the Deputy about being reliant on income as in the past, becomes less relevant. I want to get to a position where we have a standardised design approach, as we see with other public buildings, where student accommodation looks like one of two or three options. That speeds up the planning and design process, helps with affordability, and makes sure we are building stuff students want and can afford. We will have that piece of work concluded in quarter 1 of 2024.

See this speech in context