James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. I thank the Deputy for his kind words and equally offer him comhghairdeas on his election. It is good to see him here representing Kildare North.

In terms of the student accommodation in Maynooth University, at the outset I should say again that I fully appreciate the importance, and am committed to the provision, of high-quality, affordable, multi-option student accommodation because we need to enhance the student experience. That is not just a woolly goal. It means cutting commuting times and allowing students to immerse themselves in college life thanks to the practical benefits of being close to the college. It allows for late-night tuition, involvement in societies and the fulfilment of what college is about. It is important for quality of life and the practicality of not turning up tired for lectures after a long commute. All of those things are important. As I mentioned earlier, my daughter is a commuter to college so I do understand the challenges facing students.

In terms of the overall plan, as a short-term measure to address the challenges faced by students in accessing accommodation, the Government approved funding to higher education institutions to activate projects with planning permission that had stalled due to cost and viability challenges. We took the approach in recent years, in order to turbo charge the availability of on-campus accommodation, of looking for expressions of interest for projects with planning permission that were effectively shovel ready but had stalled for various reasons. We looked to reactivate those. Under that measure a percentage of student beds are ringfenced for targeted groups of students. The target groups are those identified as being most disadvantaged using the SUSI, NAP and DARE schemes as the metrics.

The Maynooth University student accommodation scheme is one of the projects being funded as part of this short-term activation programme. That project is currently on site, with 116 beds under construction and expected to be delivered for the 2025-26 academic year. Maynooth may be the first university to come through the programme and is leading the way in that sense. That is very welcome.

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