Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have met and spoken with the students' union in Dublin City University, DCU, and NUIG, where there were particular problems during the last term. To answer the Senator's question, student accommodation is being built. At the end of May last, 2,990 student bed spaces had been completed since the launch of the Rebuilding Ireland report. Nationally, there are 7,070 student bed spaces actively being built, and 2,354 will be available in the coming academic year and over 2,800 will be available in the following year. The potential pipeline of accommodation is also encouraging. Some 7,017 bed spaces have been granted planning permission. Therefore, we should meet, if not exceed, the Rebuilding Ireland target of 7,000 purpose built bed spaces by the end of 2019 and 21,000 bed spaces by the end of 2024.

By increasing the available supply of student accommodation we can alleviate some of the pressure on the private rental market, which will in turn help to decrease price. In tandem with the Housing Finance Agency work has been carried out to assist in the provision of finance for higher education institutions.Work has been carried out to assist in the provision of finance for higher education institutions. The Housing Finance Agency has implemented a streamlined application process to assist such institutions to access finance for the construction of purpose-built student accommodation. Provisions have also been made which allow applications for new, purpose-built student accommodation developments to move through the planning process at a faster pace.

Alongside these initiatives, the Union of Students of Ireland and the Departments are working through the interdepartmental working group on student accommodation to promote and facilitate the provision of digs accommodation as an alternative to both purpose-built student accommodation and the general rental market for students. The 2018 campaign was launched on 25 June and will seek to increase the number of homeowners offering accommodation to students during academic term time.

The recent rent increases in privately run, purpose-built student accommodation are a significant cause for concern. I have met my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Damien English, to discuss this issue and we continue to work together to ensure that students are accommodated in the current housing market. Officials from the Departments of Education and Skills and Housing, Planning and Local Government are working in close co-operation to identify a solution that will provide the longevity sought from any intervention. This is a complex issue which may well necessitate legislation that is robust and does not give rise to unintended consequences. As such, it is necessary to ensure that any potential solution is robust enough to withstand scrutiny from many different perspectives.