Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I will leave such comments to the Labour Party. However, on the same programme accommodation officers stated there was absolutely no problem and thousands of accommodation places were on their lists. They admitted they could not house everyone on the same morning but asked people to calm down. While representatives of the Union of Students in Ireland sometimes lock themselves to gates or otherwise, this is simply to hype up an issue and allow landlords to put up rents. There is no need for most of the hype and people should calm down as recent tax measures have allowed for many on and off-campus sites, although these would still be at a low level compared to other countries.

The lack of local authority accommodation was referred to by Senators, although I did not fully grasp the point made by Senator Bannon. It is not necessarily bad that there are fewer people in local authority accommodation if that means they are buying out the accommodation previously let to them under the various sales schemes. This is good because they are putting down roots. Whether in regard to a student who will be a high flying consultant in a few years or a person living in a local authority house, accommodation is looked after better if it is owned rather than rented. Counties Longford and Galway were on the list, although I do not have the figures with me. I recently visited some innovative housing estates in Galway which were a mix of social, affordable and voluntary housing. We must compare what local authorities stated they would achieve during their four year multi-annual programmes with the actual housing out-turn. Some have performed marvellously, with increases of up to 130%.