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

The Minister and I have had dealings in the past when I was the Opposition spokesperson on public expenditure and reform. I have always found the Minister to be very honest, frank and straight to the point, which I think is a very good quality and I hope it is a quality he will bring to this portfolio. If I am honest, in my view, that was lacking in the previous Minister.

The Minister referred to the UCD beds. There was a continuous re-announcement of these same beds. They were first announced in 2018, then paused in November 2022, re-announced in June 2023, re-announced in January 2024 and then again in April 2024. The Minister knows the huge pressure that students are under. He knows that at the coming of the academic year, students always face huge challenges. There is panic around housing, whether they will be able to find somewhere that is affordable, whether the landlord is going to increase the rent, or whether the only place they can afford is so far away that they are likely to spend every weekday on a bus or a train, commuting to college. Year after year, the student housing crisis has got worse under this Government. I hope the Minister can tell us he is going to bring clarity, frankness, openness and honesty in regard to student accommodation.

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