James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

The overall figure of €100 million was indeed announced but individual projects required ministerial approval. I sanctioned UCD very recently and was glad to do so. DCU has a project that is currently under evaluation with the HEA. Trinity College also has a project that has undergone due diligence and is progressing through the system. There are some other projects which are at different stages.

In terms of the technological university sector, funding was given to that sector to accelerate its student accommodation programme and to assist with logistical issues and formulate proposals. A borrowing framework to allow technological universities to finance such developments or to access finance for same is a work in progress. That will all be contained in the student accommodation strategy. Ultimately, this comes down to two things, viability and affordability. We need to increase supply and encourage investment and ensure that students can actually afford to rent the units when purchased. In the finance Bill there are some measures around VAT on apartments and I have engaged with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to ensure that those measures would apply equally to student accommodation. I already mentioned the tax credit on rental payments. It is a complex area but a combination of measures is being adopted.

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