Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise two points on the issue of housing - the housing disaster - and how it affects the education system. First, students who wish to attend third level courses in institutions of their choice are curtailed because affordable student accommodation is not possible. For the ordinary student, it is unaffordable. Therefore, they may choose a course that is not their top priority in order to allow them to commute because they need to live at home as they cannot afford to rent. They might decide not to go to third level education because they cannot afford to study and need to work to contribute to the family income because the cost of living is so high in this country.

In my own constituency of Dublin South-Central, particularly in Dublin 8, there has been a swell of student accommodation built in recent years. The area is very close to the city centre and has easy access to colleges and universities. It should be fantastic for students to live there, but the cost of this student accommodation is far beyond what an ordinary student can afford. Rents are approximately €1,250 per month for a one-bedroom student room with a shared kitchen. For a self-funded student this is completely unaffordable. Student accommodation is vitally important for students in our economy. It must be appropriate and affordable. Only today, I read about the international students who have been asked for sex for rent. That is an absolute horror and disgrace.

The second problem we have, particularly in urban areas, is the retention of education professionals due to high rents and unaffordability. Housing costs in Ireland are already among the highest in Europe. Rents have doubled in a decade and there is double-digit house price inflation. Newly qualified teaching staff, SNAs and other educational staff cannot afford to pay ridiculously high rents and certainly cannot afford to buy their own homes. They are locked out of the market yet are expected to turn up every day to teach, support and help our children and young people in schools and education services. In October, half of primary schools in the commuter belt, as it is called, could not find teachers to fill vacant positions. An INTO survey in the autumn found that these shortages in teaching staff have a profound impact on the quality of education in many schools. Schools are having to resort to unqualified teaching staff because they cannot afford to live here. I spoke in this House yesterday about the lack of school places for children with special needs. These vulnerable children are being failed by this country. Housing has a significant role to play in that failure.

The motion we are proposing has a vision and a pathway to ensure we start to get out of the housing disaster that is destroying this country on so many levels. I am speaking about it from the lens of the education system but there is no element of life that it does not affect.

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