Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

So many more students are coming into our universities and college, which is fantastic, but the need for accommodation is crucial, as the Minister is aware, and the new technological universities will have powers in that regard. In my area, I constantly try to highlight the rent a room scheme and the relief that is available, whereby people can rent out a room within their house. We have to see how universities can link in with their alumni networks and graduates who might wish to give something back to their universities, which could be by offering a room in a house close to the campus.

With the technological universities, we are driving more courses out to regional campus areas where students can be handled and taken in and where there is more capacity to build student accommodation. The technological universities are a great way for us to look at how we ensure we have access to student accommodation by driving out some of the courses into those regional campuses from the heartlands of the universities themselves.