Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of student accommodation and regulation, or rather the lack thereof. In terms of vulture fund-owned student accommodation, I have identified about 45 of these complexes across the State. According to the RTB's latest register, only seven of them were registered with it. We know that around half of these complexes now have some form of a 51-week lease requirement, despite the fact that students do not attend college for 51 weeks of the year. I was recently told by the Taoiseach that the Ministers, Deputies Darragh O'Brien and Simon Harris, are looking into legislative changes to address this. That seems like a case of closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. In Galway, where I am from, Hubble student accommodation at Cúirt na Coiribe are raising their prices by almost 30%. Hubble is owned by the Exeter property group, which in turn is now owned by the Swedish private equity group EQT. So many of these complexes have availed of generous planning concessions, particularly under the now defunct strategic housing development measures. With these types of complexes there is little to no tax being paid as they are able to avail of a whole host of tax concessions, for instance through the ICAV structure. When is the Government going to get real about the approach to student housing delivery? Students do not want accommodation that has bowling alleys, cinemas, 24-hour gyms and rooftop terraces. What they need is affordable student accommodation. They need student accommodation that is not linked to mad tax concessions and mad-sounding acronyms. What they need is affordability. The Tánaiste and his colleagues like to say that this is a complex issue but - newsflash - they are the ones who have made it complicated. Students want simple, affordable student accommodation and it is time for the Government to deliver that.

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