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

I have raised with the Taoiseach so many times the issue of vulture fund-owned student accommodation. We now know that vulture funds own almost as much student accommodation as the universities themselves. We now have a situation where in Cork and Dublin, there is more vulture fund-owned student accommodation than beds owned by the universities themselves, and Galway is actually getting to that point now as well. There are 1,000 beds proposed in Menlo in Galway. The issue here is that for students and people in the local community, they do not have the access to affordable accommodation to rent or to buy. This kind of development deliver neither of these things. It is also in a Gaeltacht area. How is it possible for vulture fund-led accommodation of 1,000 beds to adhere to Irish language-speaking guidelines for a Gaeltacht area?

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