Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will bring the Taoiseach back to his previous role as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. He will be aware that Government promised to bring in legislation to facilitate and support technological universities to be able to borrow so they could provide their own student accommodation. Places like the Technological University of the Shannon in Athlone, which the Taoiseach visited many times and was very supportive of during his time in the Department, have land ready to be developed to provide student accommodation, which will ensure that students have good-quality affordable accommodation while attending college but also help alleviate the pressure in a general sense in terms of housing in Athlone and the broader midlands area. Can the Taoiseach come back to me, if not today then another time, with a definitive timeframe as to when technological universities can realistically expect to have the permission to go ahead and borrow and start construction? It is a critical thing for them, and it will also help in terms of the housing crisis.

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