Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming in. I recognise the significant contribution he, as Minister, has made to special needs education, particularly for students with disabilities in higher education institutions, HEIs, including those participating in the publicly funded university sector and those in the so-called private sector, for example, Griffith College and Dublin Business School, DBS. People often associate those private colleges with rich kids but the vast majority of students who attend those HEIs are atypical and not your standard student. Many of them have additional needs and come from challenged and disadvantaged backgrounds. I know this because my son, Eoghan, attends DBS. They fulfil a function in the third level sector, though other universities like Trinity College Dublin or Technological University Dublin are trying to attract people in from disadvantaged backgrounds. They are making the case through the Higher Education Colleges Association, HECA, to have the SUSI grant extended to students who attend those for-profit third level institutions. The grant should follow the student, irrespective of the institution they attend. The Minister acknowledged and acted on that principle when it came to disabled students.

I know I am pushing at an open door here but I have been a lecturer in the higher education sector for the past 22 years. Over that time and especially in the past five or six years, I have seen the impact the housing and accommodation crisis has on students. I have had postgraduate students who, unable to find affordable accommodation in the city, commuted daily from places as far away as Dundalk, Galway, Wexford and Waterford. Every day they got up at 6 a.m. to get a train to Dublin and make their way into the university, and then got a train home in the evening. Some managed to couch surf for one or two nights a week. That situation has become more than commonplace among the students I have dealt with who were postgrads. Many of those were mature students who had access to funds and income. At undergraduate level, it presents an even greater challenge for families. The Minister mentioned families with more than one student at third level. I have three at third level at the moment. That is why the Minister may see me later on Grafton Street playing a guitar - notes only, please. It places quite a burden. We are fortunate in that we live in Dublin and our adult children, so-called, can live with us. There is a huge burden which is complicated by the housing and accommodation crisis and by the cost-of-living crisis.

A suggestion that the Union of Students in Ireland made, and I think it is a good one, is that there be free public transport for students at third level. Eventually we may arrive at a situation where all public transport is free to use as we confront the climate crisis. There is an intersectionality there in terms of what we can do. I went to college in the 1980s. Ireland had major economic challenges at the time and other challenges, including mass emigration. I went to college with a cohort of students from all over the country who were able to rent everywhere from Rathmines to the south and north inner city. They had a pile of life experiences that are part of the third level formation, but many young students today cannot avail of those life experiences. Whereas their peers throughout the European Union and in Britain normally move away from home and go through that rite of passage, many of our students and young people are denied that. We as a House, Government and Parliament should do everything in our power to afford young people, often referred to as the locked-out generation, the opportunity to fully participate in university life and in the social, economic and cultural life and fabric of the cities where our universities are based.

I know the Minister to be a person of absolute integrity and considerable energy, which is often remarked upon. I know he is sincere, authentic and genuine when he enumerates the various schemes and proposals he is putting in place. However, we need to accelerate our efforts because, apart from the Irish students I commented on and whom I have had experience with in the third level sector, Technological University Dublin has a large cohort of international students and that is also the case with Trinity. Increasingly, foreign students are finding it difficult to attend courses in Dublin. They are prepared to pay the international fees. They are attracted here because we are an English-speaking country within the European Union and our universities have a good reputation, but the accommodation crisis is turning them away. I am hearing from students that Dublin is getting a bad name, as are Limerick and Galway, because students cannot get accommodation. That is something about which we have be very careful because it impacts on not just our HEIs but on Ireland Inc. and our international reputation. In fact, I have a number of interns.I lectured on a masters in public affairs and political communication. Approximately two dozen interns here in Leinster House were on that course. Many of them are international students. They are now telling me some of them are finding it difficult to source accommodation. It is an all-of-society challenge but, given the Minister’s brief, he needs to do his utmost to deal with this issue, as I know he will.

As regards the €307 million shortfall in core funding, I have received many representations, particularly from Trinity College Dublin, about the impact that is having on pupil-lecturer ratios and universities' capacity to carry out research, to foster innovation and to attract international funding, sponsorship and grants. Universities are the engines of economic recovery and innovation, as well as being important engines of ethical and moral accountability in society. We need to bridge that gap.