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

The flipside is that parents sending children into digs accommodation cannot be sure they will be fully protected. That is also a challenge. I agree with the Minister that there definitely needs to be balance from the perspective both of the landlord or digs provider and of the student. These students are often in their first year and do not have a big network so we need to have that protection in place. The students union at the University of Galway did a survey of members and found that 28% of students said their accommodation had a negative impact on their education. To go back to what previous speakers have said, a negative impact on education can make it more likely that people will drop out. We do not want that because education is absolutely vital to progression in this community and society. We want to do the best we can for students. It would be fantastic if the framework could be a little bit more mandatory. I do not want the Minister to frighten people away but we do need to protect students more.

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