Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy, for a change, on this issue. We need to move away from the extent to which we rely on digs accommodation at the moment, to more appropriate student accommodation, which should be on-campus or close to campus where possible. The Minister, Deputy Harris, has done an extraordinary amount of work in this area. Now more than ever before, we are seeing student accommodation being delivered right across the university campuses, both in Dublin and outside of it. There is much more in the pipeline. We will see the benefit of that so students can move into more appropriate, tailor-made student accommodation. This will free up digs accommodation for other types of residential accommodation, which is badly needed.

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