Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also wish the Minister well in his role. I previously held the role my colleague, Deputy McGettigan, now holds and I very much enjoyed it. It is an area in which the Minister could make great progress, not least with regard to accommodation. There are serious problems with digs accommodation. That is why my colleagues, Deputies Ó Broin and Farrell, introduced legislation in the area last year. I take on board what the Minister has said about this being an emergency measure and not wanting to shut down any streams of accommodation. However, it is absolutely essential that this sort of accommodation be registered. I hope the Minister has been listening to the students unions and the great work they are doing in this area. I also have great concern about the Atlantic Technological University's Castlebar campus. I met with the students union there two weeks ago. There is no accommodation. There is not even any accommodation in the pipeline for that campus. The student accommodation that was there is being repurposed. Where university towns have potential but there is no accommodation, the university cannot expand in the way it needs to.

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