Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

To follow on from the previous two speakers, there is a crisis in Cork regarding student accommodation and the affordability of such accommodation. That is why it is so important that the strategy is now delivered. I know the Minister is not long in the job but surely his predecessor had advanced this. It should be at a certain stage now. When will we have sight of it? It is a very important strategy that needs to be delivered on. The Minister made a point about what was done in Spain. Students are now fighting with ordinary non-student people who are trying to rent accommodation. One is pitted against the other. Something needs to be done. It is all about delivery. Parents are now under savage pressure to come up with funds to get student accommodation for their children because prices are so high. I know the Minister is new in the job but he has been in government for more than four and a half years. We should have a strategy by now.

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