Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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10. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update in respect of the provision of student accommodation for Maynooth University; his plans for investment in this area; and if he has engaged with the HEA on this matter. [14259/25]

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I will start by taking the opportunity to wish both the Minister and Minister of State very well in their new and exciting portfolios. I wish Deputy Lawless well in particular, as he is a constituency colleague. I was delighted to hear the news and really wish him the very best in his role.

I wish to ask the Minister about his plans with regard to investment in student accommodation in Maynooth. Are there any plans for investment there and what is the extent of his communications with the university and the Higher Education Authority on the matter?

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I am a very proud former student of Maynooth University and I also worked there for a number of years. I was also a councillor representing the Clane, Maynooth municipal district. The Minister will be well aware that there is something quite unique about Maynooth in terms of the student town. The population essentially doubles during term time. The student accommodation issue is not isolated to students benefitting in the primary case but directly impacts everything else, in terms of living, working and growing up in Maynooth.

Having spoken to the president, the students union and to students themselves, it is clear that there is a growing concern that Maynooth, with its designation under the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy, RSES, has a population that is set to continue to grow and evolve. If we can unlock the potential of student accommodation aggressively, that will have a direct knock-on impact on everything else, including things like infrastructure, GP services, public transport and so on. It is a key piece of the jigsaw. I welcome the commitment from the Government and encourage the Minister to continue to be as ambitious as possible for Maynooth.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I fully agree and share the Deputy's ambition for Maynooth. For that reason, I immediately made inquiries about progressing that project when I took office. A total of 116 student beds will come on stream this year in Maynooth. The university will be first to come out of that programme. I am also meeting the university president, Ms Eeva Leinonen, tomorrow. I will be visiting Maynooth for an event tomorrow, which the Deputy may also be attending, where I will meet the president. I have met her a number of times already and have engaged with a number of the principals of the student union at Maynooth. I am very mindful of that.

We have a two-pronged strategy. There is the student bed activation project which I already mentioned. That involved taking projects that were shovel ready and had planning permission but where a regulatory or cost issues arose and seeing if we could move them forward. That is what we have done here and in other colleges. There is also a longer term student accommodation strategy which is currently being drafted and on which I am very much focused. That strategy will introduce measures such as increasing supply of accommodation for students, reducing the cost of delivery using standardised design guidance, promoting the more efficient use of existing building stock and examining vacancy. We are trying to do more, faster and better.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I have one more supplementary question but do not expect the Minister to be able to answer it today. Given the uniqueness of Maynooth, would the Minister consider a working group, involving representatives of the Department, the council, the HSE and others, to sit around the table to get the sustainability of this development right? Maynooth is a decarbonised town and there are lots of different and very important stakeholders at play with regard to the development of Maynooth. It might work really well in terms of getting the long-term planning right if we got those stakeholders together as part of a working group.

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I will allow a supplementary question from Deputy Conway-Walsh.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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I did not have enough time on accommodation earlier. We need a change of thinking here. Student accommodation has to be an integral part of third level education and it has to be an investment. I do not think we need another strategy, even though I welcome that, because we have enough strategies on student accommodation to pave the way from here to Mayo. We need the investment. The effect of not having enough student accommodation on young people's mental health is huge. I am also acutely aware of the wider accommodation crisis and the cost of living for families. We see electricity bills and every other bill going up. The impact of having to look for student accommodation in the first place and then not finding any that is affordable is huge. It is putting huge pressure on families and students and is limiting their life opportunities. Students are making decisions based on where they can afford to live and that is not right.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I will respond in reverse order, taking Deputy Conway-Walsh's points first. I am not sure I accept that there is a line of student accommodation strategies from here to Mayo. Student accommodation was not a government function until very recently, when it came into my Department. It is an easy thing to throw out in a debate but I do not know how accurate it is.

I presume the Deputy will agree that we need to reduce the cost of provision, which means we can do more with less. I presume she also agrees that we need to standardise design guidance, as we have done for secondary schools, for example. We also need to promote the efficient use of existing stock. There are good reasons for rethinking this. I am a new Minister and am currently looking at what is working and what is not working.

I hope the Deputy will agree we are doing that. I am engaged in that process at the moment. As with everything else, I welcome suggestions and inputs. Much as I would love to convene a working group for Maynooth and north Kildare, I remind Deputy Farrelly that I am Minister for the entire country.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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It could be a pilot project.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Indeed. I am actively engaged with the university and will be there again as soon as tomorrow. I hope there will be ongoing engagement into the future.