Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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83. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of his commitment to work with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to ensure private providers of student accommodation would show decency and refund deposits and rent paid by students who no longer need the accommodation due to changes in their timetable and time on campus; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31357/20]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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This is a very important question which relates to my first one and asks the Minister what he is doing to ensure that private providers of student accommodation would show decency and refund deposits and rent paid by students who no longer need accommodation due to changes in the timetable and time on the campus? The Union of Students in Ireland has continuously called for emergency protection for such students.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We already discussed an issue in an earlier question, and the Deputy has rightly differentiated the two issues, and have already discussed what we are doing as to on-campus accommodation. We have a clear obligation in that regard for universities to provide refunds and such flexible solutions.

As to private providers, I urge all providers to be flexible in finding solutions given the extraordinary circumstances in which students find themselves. This is not a normal year. I have to be truthful to the House in saying that there are no powers available to me under the current legal framework to direct any particular course of action. Refund or cancellation policies in student accommodation should be set out in the licence agreements signed at the beginning of the academic year. That is the legal reality as of today.

In the first instance I am advised that students should engage with their accommodation provider to see if an arrangement can be reached. Students have access to the Residential Tenancies Board and the dispute resolution service. I have asked my Department to continue to engage with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I am aware that the Union of Students in Ireland had a meeting with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in September, I believe. I have asked my Department to revert to me to see if there are any further developments or actions that we could take to try to assist students in this regard. To be very clear, I agree with the Deputy on the need for people to do the decent thing and I will continue to engage with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in this regard.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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A memo was brought to Cabinet to investigate banning evictions, as was done in the previous lockdown. This is sorely needed and should never have been removed. It was needed even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Where is the same urgency when it comes to students? Students are in a unique position in the rental market as they are often asked to pay months in advance. This runs into thousands of euro for hard-pressed families and students. When requesting refunds for unused accommodation they are told that there is no protective legislation in place for student renters and that they will not be entitled to their money back. That is not good enough and successive Governments have failed students and their families. There are some small-scale landlords who rent one property or even a room in their own home. Their ability to get by is important but students and their families should not always be the ones shouldering the financial burden. Will the small-scale operators letting to students be able to access the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, if they let students out of the lease and give refunds? We cannot just leave these students having paid thousands of euro to private landlords. We have to intervene.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy raises an interesting point on the CRSS. This is well outside the remit of my Department but I will raise it with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, and will revert to the Deputy on this issue. My understanding is that businesses which cannot continue to operate or operate at restrictive levels can avail of this support. It is a fair point to ask if these landlords fit into that category. I will check that and revert to the Deputy.

What I have been focusing in trying to do is to pull the levers that I have directly within my control - I will not go through all of them again - such as the financial support scheme, the student assistance fund, the mental health support and the educational disadvantage fund. We have taken up as many different proactive ways as we can to try to support students. We have taken very specific action on campus and university-owned accommodation. I accept that there is a group of students in respect of private accommodation where I have been honest with the House as to my legal powers. I have made it very clear what I would like to see happen and I am engaging with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to see if anything further can happen.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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The Government must bear some responsibility for this as to the institutions, the late timetables and announcements. Students are struggling immensely, emotionally, financially and socially. The anger and sense of injustice they feel is really palpable. We are asking them to adhere to level 5 restrictions. We need to bring them with us and to show solidarity with them. Level 5 counts as use prevention.

Surely that means we must put in place measures to ensure they are given fair play. We cannot be observers of this escalating situation. The Government must step in with measures that will ensure students get refunded for accommodation we are preventing them from using. It really is time to act. All higher level accommodation providers must be instructed and enabled to allow for leases to be terminated without incurring fees and penalties and full refunds to be issued to those who request them. If that means introducing emergency legislation then that is what needs to be done. The aggregate amount of money that is being handed over to landlords for something that students and families will never use is desperate.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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While I agree with much of the sentiment of what the Deputy has said, how we make these things happen is the challenge we have in Government. We have tried to take all of the actions we can take that are at our disposal in terms of how we financially support students and their families, recognising that this has been a year of extraordinary challenge and one no student could have imagined. I do not wish to be argumentative at this hour of the night but I do not believe it is particularly fair to suggest we have been slow or late in respect of the decision-making. When we look at other jurisdictions across the European Union and the likes we moved swiftly in saying to students that we need to move on-site, and students were very responsible in that regard. Had we not done that we would have ended up in a much deeper difficulty for more students in respect of student accommodation. I am committed to continuing to call out private landlords in terms of their responsibility to do the right thing, show the flexibility that is required and work with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I have already asked my officials to continue to engage with that Department to see if there is more that can be done in this space.