Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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It is a great pleasure to be in the Seanad today. I look forward to updating Senators on the work of my Department, myself and the team around me, particularly in the areas of student accommodation and supports. I understand we might return another day to research, innovation and higher education, some of the other aspects of the portfolio. I understand that we are under time pressure today.

Further and higher education are critical elements of Ireland's economic growth, which is fundamentally tied to our societal progress because we do not have a strong society without a strong economy. This has been a core pillar of Government policy for several decades now. Our greatest natural resource is our people. It is a talent we all have, that is latent within us, and that we can unlock through the training and education systems. The talent and skills of our population are what we have to thank for progress we have made today in advances in the economy and societal resilience, and all the other positives we enjoy. It is thanks to the hard work of our people and their imagination, innovation and determination. These strengths, in turn, support the public good and fund the essential services we all rely on, critical things like education, housing and healthcare, of course. This is being built on a strong skills base and sustainable investment in education and in our students.

Many of the achievements and advancements underpinned by the National Training Fund and the national development plan, which are laying strong foundations for the future, are infheistíocht inár ndaltaí. I fully recognise that the cost of education remains a key concern for students. That is why student accommodation remains one of the most immediate, real and present challenges for students today. I recently secured Government approval and published the National Student Accommodation Strategy 2026-2035. This strategy sets out a clear and ambitious roadmap focused on increasing the supply of student beds, but also on strengthening affordability measures for students. It has twin pillars of viability and affordability, viability to intervene to ensure the beds get built in the first place, and affordability to ensure students have the resources to be able to rent those rooms and take up those accommodation offers. It addresses those challenges in two ways. The demand is projected over the next decade to stretch to 42,000 additional beds. The existing deficit is about 15,000 beds, which is contributing to unsustainably long commutes for many students. Students are spending longer on the road, bus or train than I or anyone would wish them to. That is where we are going to have to fill a shortfall of 15,000. Over the next decade, as we look at the demographics coming into third level and further education, according to the CSO data, the numbers in the secondary school population over the last five or six years have swelled. That will work its way into the further and higher education system over the next couple of years. There are demographic pressures at play here as well. As we play that forward over the next ten years, the demand will reach up to about 42,000 additional beds required.

Meeting this demand will require strong collaboration between the State, higher education institutions, that is, the colleges, and the private sector to deliver purpose-built student accommodation at the pace and scale that is required. I mentioned that the strategy is structured in two pillars, one being supply and viability. That includes the delivery of both on-campus and off-campus accommodation as well expanding the use of rent-a-room, digs-type accommodation. Pillar 2 focuses on affordability supports, ensuring students are supported regardless of whether they live at home, rent privately, are in purpose-built accommodation or are availing of a room in a private home.. It is giving students monetary supports to help them pay their way, pay their rent or digs, whatever their expenses are, as well as intervening at supply level to ensure we increase the stock of building across the State and get shovels into the ground as quickly as possible.

Recent measures, including the VAT reductions and targeted rent reforms, are helping to unlock developments that had previously stalled due to viability challenges, ensuring that projects with planning permission can now progress more quickly. There were several developments around the country which had planning permission secured but had stalled and had not got out of the blocks. We needed some kind of intervention to make those viable. We have done that using a number of measures, some of which are already beginning to come on stream. Some of the supply-side interventions include reductions in VAT costs for new apartments, changes to rent-setting arrangements for student-specific accommodation, and the introduction of more flexible design standards to reduce construction costs. On the design standards, I should say that it is flexibility without any diminution of quality. It is about high quality, best in class, using international comparators to deliver student accommodation, but in a way that is efficient and optimal in terms of the number of students per development, preserving common areas and interaction.That is good not only for optimising bed capacity in each development but also for student well-being and mental health. Providing shared spaces, common areas and living areas is a good thing to do in any event. We are already seeing the fruits of the strategy slowly beginning to bear fruit. It is only six weeks since it was launched but we are seeing shoots beginning to emerge. Some 3,000 student beds are now under construction around the country and a substantial pipeline of more than 14,000 beds with planning is ready to be activated. We also have the additional relief through the rent-a-room scheme, with advertised student beds rising from under 2,000 in 2023 to more than 5,000 in 2026. That is effectively what we call digs accommodation. The number of beds has more than doubled in the space of three years, with some promotional campaigns and interventions around that to drive it on. That scheme has proved popular with homeowners who can now earn up to €14,000 per year tax free, providing an important and flexible source of accommodation supply.

Looking to our technological universities, they have also identified potential accommodation projects. I engaged with them over the last year to ask for submissions to be made on potential sites for campus accommodation where we could look to build out student accommodation. They engaged on that fulsomely and we now have a number of projects identified around the country which we can begin to target for building out these sites. We have also expanded that to the traditional universities under the higher education sector student accommodation programme, HSAP. We are now asking the traditional universities to produce the same set of proposals and identify sites, land banks and areas within their grounds where student accommodation could proceed. These projects are all being advanced on a phased basis, supported by a demand analysis, structured engagement with the development sector and financial frameworks to enable delivery, including, for example, the enablement of a nominations agreement for technological universities to enter into borrowing arrangements, which was not previously available. The technological universities had long sought it. It is now contained and delivered within this strategy. The first phase is being rolled out across the areas of highest demand, which are Dublin, Cork and Galway. It is the intention to move to the second phase as quickly as possible this year.

The average cost of student accommodation around the country approximates to €700 per month. That is a significant burden for many. I appreciate there will be some above that, and probably some below that, but that is the average nationally. In response to that, I am targeting a number of financial supports which amount to €176 million annually to assist students with accommodation and living costs. I have achieved that in a number of ways. I will continue to outline my commitment, which I reiterate again today, to improve student supports in a way that is equitable, sustainable and fair, and also provides certainty for families for planning for budgets, etc., year on year.

Budget 2026 was the beginning of a transition away from temporary supports towards a more permanent and balanced system, one that provides certainty so that students and their families know from one year to the next what is happening and what they can expect. Under the existing free fees initiative, the State supports eligible undergraduate students, who account for the vast majority of undergraduate students in the State, with tuition costs. More than 148,000 students had their full fees paid in the 2024-25 academic year. Along with that, the SUSI grant scheme provides targeted supports, with more than 65,000 students receiving SUSI supports in the last year. More than 44,000 students have had their fees, including the student contribution fee, paid in full, and another 30,000 students have benefited from higher maintenance grants because of the cost of living away from home. I deliberately targeted students living 30 km or more away from the campus, with additional maintenance grant supports in the last budget to make sure that those students who had the extra burden of travel or accommodation were supported through real money increases in their grant.

Also in budget 2026, I introduced a permanent €500 fee reduction in the student contribution charge, reducing it from €3,000 to €2,500. That is the first such permanent reduction since 1995. That benefits approximately 108,000 undergraduate students as well as 14,000 apprentices who also had their apprentice contribution reduced pro ratain the same way. I increased the SUSI grant rates by between €200 and €430 in different bands, supporting 30,000 students, and I increased the threshold for fee support to €120,000. Students in a household with an income of €120,000 or less will pay a maximum €2,000 in student contributions this year. As people go down the income scale, they pay less and less. Some 44,000 students did not have to pay any fees at all. Any student in a household earning €120,000 will have had a maximum contribution of €2,000 towards their fees.

There are a number of other measures, such as the 1916 bursary scheme, which targets students from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds. The student accommodation assistance scheme focuses on dedicated supports for Travellers, Roma students and students exiting care. I have met a number of care groups and worked with them. We have the student assistance fund, which is now at an historical high, of just under €20 million. It is available on discretionary merit and is available to access offices in colleges to award as they see fit in their student bodies. We have increased the fund for students with disabilities, mental health supports and many other funds.

I am conscious of time. I have set out some of the affordability measures I have introduced in the current budget, along with the significant inroads we have made in the strategy I have set out in the student accommodation plan, which is now up and running and entering phase 1.

Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his time. I am delighted to welcome him back into the Seanad on the occasion of this important debate on student accommodation. I acknowledge the very significant progress that has been made under his leadership in the Department. Sometimes in politics we focus solely on problems and do a disservice to the taxpayers and citizens by failing to recognise the actual progress that is being made and the genuine delivery and reform. Since taking office, the Minister has pursued an ambitious agenda with tangible results already, and that deserves recognition in this House. He has unlocked €1.48 billion from the National Training Fund to support higher education and skills development. He introduced the full professorship grade for technological universities. This is a landmark reform that strengthens parity of esteem across the higher education system and supports the continued growth of regional institutions. He secured a record €410 million investment in apprenticeships, expanding courses and student spaces for learners right across the country. He delivered and made permanent the €500 reduction in the student fee contribution, a very meaningful support for students and families. He launched aiready.ie, the national AI skilling platform to ensure that Ireland remains competitive in the rapidly changing global economy.

Critically, for today's debate, the Minister made student accommodation a clear priority. Last year, he published the national design guide for student accommodation, helping to ensure that new developments are high quality, sustainable and designed around student well-being. He introduced nomination agreements allowing higher education institutions to partner directly with developers and accommodation providers to accelerate the delivery and provide certainty for students. He introduced the borrowing framework for technological universities. That work, combined with the introduction of the 9% VAT rate for apartments in last year's budget, has brought confidence back to the market and sent signals to the construction sector that Ireland is serious about supporting the development of student accommodation. I also acknowledge the Minister's work in securing the carve-out for students within the stronger tenancy protection legislation - the three-year protection window for students. That is a practical and important change that he secured.

The Minister published the student accommodation strategy, tying all of those other measures together, with clear national targets and the roadmap for delivery of the 42,000 beds he has projected we will need over the lifetime of the strategy. While there is more work to do, it is important to state clearly that these are substantial achievements and they are making a difference. We are now beginning to see progress right around the country, in particular in my home town of Limerick. In recent months, we have had very positive announcements that demonstrate the momentum is now building. Most notably, the Minister and I visited the site in Limerick at the Groody Student Park in Castletroy, close to the University of Limerick, where a landmark 1,400-bed student accommodation project will be delivered over two phases. It is set to start later this year. It is going to be the largest student accommodation project ever undertaken outside of Dublin. The project will not only provide modern accommodation for students but will also ease pressure on the wider rental sector in the Castletroy area in Limerick. It will support economic activity and reinforce Limerick's role as one of Ireland's leading university cities.

In March of this year, planning was granted for a 115-bed student accommodation unit in Pennywell in Limerick city centre, very close to the art college, which we are very pleased to see. Unfortunately, we have not had as much success in developing student accommodation in the west of the city, near Mary Immaculate College, but I hope and believe the changes the Minister is introducing and leading will help us to get there. We have also seen proactive engagement from Limerick City and County Council in examining additional opportunities for purpose-built student accommodation on public lands. Earlier this year, the council went to consultation to gauge market interest in partnering on such development on local authority-owned lands. It is now reviewing the responses. There is a role for local authorities in this area in addition to the work being done by the Department and complementary to the public private partnerships and nomination agreements. The Mayor of Limerick, Mr. Moran, has ambitious plans for smart housing in the form of modular accommodation, which could be ideal for students.

Financing will, of course, be an issue for local authorities. We need to look at increasing their borrowing capacity in order to fund these types of projects, which can be self-financing to some extent, and increase the amount of student accommodation being provided overall within a region. There is nobody better than the councils to identify the most suitable sites and handle all the challenges associated with development. I urge the Minister to relate this discussion to the Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Chambers, and ask him to examine the possibility of introducing for the local authorities a similar capacity to the TU borrowing framework, in the interest of providing what is the Government's top priority, namely, housing of all types.

These developments matter because student accommodation is not simply about buildings. It is about access and whether a young person from rural Ireland can afford to attend college. It is about whether students can participate fully in university life without enduring the exhausting commutes or unaffordable rents we have discussed. It is about ensuring our regional cities continue to grow as centres of education that foster innovation and attract investment into the wider economy, thereby providing opportunity for all.

Challenges remain, of course, and the Minister has acknowledged them and is determined to address them. Unfortunately, demand continues to outpace supply in many areas. Affordability pressures are real and many students are experiencing enormous anxiety as they try to secure accommodation. Senator Rabbitte spoke to me recently about the pressure a constituent of hers is facing in trying to find accommodation in Limerick for September. God willing, that student will get a place. This is why the momentum under way must continue. We need accelerated delivery of purpose-built student accommodation near campuses and transport links. We need continued collaboration between the Government, higher education institutions, local authorities and the private sector. We must continue to strengthen our regional education centres in order that opportunities are spread right across the country and not solely concentrated in Dublin. That will ease the burden the concentration of services and opportunities is putting on the capital.

The measures introduced under the Minister's tenure are laying important foundations for the future. There is much still to do but there is clear evidence of progress, a clear direction of travel and a seriousness of purpose that deserves acknowledgment. Fianna Fáil remains committed to supporting practical, deliverable policies that expand educational opportunity, support balanced regional development and ensure students have access to safe, affordable and high-quality accommodation.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister and thank him for facilitating this really focused debate on student access, accommodation, etc. I take on board his point about innovation, which warrants another, separate debate in the Seanad. There are many progressive developments ongoing, particularly in regard to STEM, on-campus sites and the synergies between the private sector and education. It is a really exciting space and there are real opportunities within it for a great synergy of private investment funding that could be tied up to pay back to universities. As well as being about learning, universities are also about evolving innovation and research. I welcome the developments in that regard.

I thank the Minister for publishing the national student accommodation strategy for 2026 to 2035. It is a very exciting document. We are at the early stages yet, with a number of follow-on measures to come, which I will mention presently. It is important to note some of the problems. As politicians, we are involved in policy formation but I would not like people listening to this debate to think we are somehow tone-deaf to the real issues and challenges facing third level students. I am aware, as is the Minister, that the student accommodation crisis is a major barrier for some to accessing higher education. That crisis is primarily driven by the severe shortage of accommodation, which is tied to exorbitant rents and precarious living conditions. Those significant challenges directly lead to financial stress, extreme daily commutes and poor academic and mental health outcomes for many people. These are not easy times for students.

The provision of purpose-built student accommodation is an important and exciting development but, in the past, people managed to facilitate many students in small and non-purpose-built accommodation. There is room for the private sector but any provision must be based on good quality standards. We see around us the intense competition for limited on-campus accommodation. Last week, I visited Trinity College's Trinity Hall accommodation in Dartry. It is an amazing campus, which is used for other purposes in the summer. I will not say it is self-financing but the accommodation is not empty outside term time. It is used for education, leisure, conferences and other activities. That is an important model to consider.

Campus housing is full, with many students forced to rely on substandard accommodation in the private sector. It is an issue I know the Minister is committed to tackling, along with the Minister for housing, Deputy Browne. The low level of accommodation availability is a challenge. I spoke to a person last week about long-distance commuting. There are students commuting from Galway to UCD on a daily basis, which is tough. People spend hours hanging around on campus waiting for buses that may turn up at the wrong time. Feeding themselves is another expense. There are a lot of challenges and difficulties due to the lack of housing options.

We all know about rising living costs and they are a particular issue for students. Some have told me they are eating chicken-filled baguettes for their lunch. Will the Minister consider piloting a free scheme providing main meals for students who wish to avail of them? We could not provide free food for all students initially but I ask him to consider identifying some third level establishments in which a scheme could be delivered offering one hot meal a day as an option for students. Such a scheme would have to be piloted initially and then assessed. I make that request to the Minister today because students are making it to me. They tell me they are living off takeaways because the food available is not good. They are meant to be at their peak of health to learn but they are not getting the nutrition they require. In the context of rising living costs and the associated challenges of people having to commute every day or second day from the west to Dublin, we can all agree that we all need food, rest and decent accommodation in which to lay our heads and recharge. The impact of food and nutrition is really important in the lives of students.

Health, including mental health, is really important. We are seeing students dropping out of university. I acknowledge and praise the work going on in UCD with students who have had to opt out. There are implications of dropping out of courses in terms of grants and funding. UCD is running schemes to give people a year out, not to do nothing but to pause, tie into other ways of learning and have an opportunity to get back on the moving academic bus. That is important.

Exorbitant rents are a major challenge. We know the high demand in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick is a problem. Students are unable to immerse themselves in college life, which is all about formation. Student life is about more than academia. Sport, for example, is critically important. It is about personal development, relationship building, mental health, participation and volunteering. These are all critical parts of young people's development and they are missing out on them. Many students have no option but to live in really overcrowded accommodation, with many of them sharing rooms with multiple people they do not know morning, noon and night. I have heard of six or seven people living in a bedsitter in Rathmines. They do not want to complain. All they want is to get through their college career. Students are also reporting subpar living conditions, including a lack of any heating, no access to the Internet and no cooking facilities.That also ties in with my suggestion in regard to food for the pilot. Mental health and anxiety issues are serious and they need to be addressed and targeted. We can do that through the availability of on-campus or off-campus support for students. It is optional and we have to give options there.

At the end of the day, many students are feeling insecure, are under pressure and do not have the accommodation to meet their needs. The easy option is to struggle to continue on with their academic work and have a full-time job. I am told there are many students who are in full-time employment and are balancing night hours or early hours with being a student. They are trying to be a full-time student and a full-time employee and they do not tell their employer about this set of circumstances. They are run ragged and are under fierce pressure. Not everyone survives and many crack so that is a problem.

For students, living in casual, rental room situations carries enormous risk. We have heard of cases of students being put under pressure. There are anecdotal suggestions of prostitution in lieu of rent; this has been raised in this House, in the Lower House and in the committees. These are the sorts of challenges students are facing.

I acknowledge and thank the Minister for the National Student Accommodation Strategy 2026-2035, but it has to be more than just physical accommodation. It has to meet the holistic needs of students in universities, in other third level institutions, in apprenticeships and in all forms of learning and support. When students have to come to the big towns and the big cities and do not have accommodation, it will cost them and many people are backing off.

The Minister's proposal has an implementation action plan for his strategy, but he has yet to establish the implementation strategy. He will put in place mechanisms. He might keep the House informed of those. This is an excellent document. It has only recently been published. It is a pathway for a very clear intention the Minister has driven and personally taken great interest in so I commend him and his Minister of State on this strategy and wish them well.

Mike Kennelly (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister to the House. I thank him and his Department and acknowledge the work they do. For the past 18 months it has probably been one of the best-run Departments, due to many factors, so I want to put that on the record. Many of the commitments that were made during the programme for Government, which include reducing the cost of education, improving access and building a strong and modern third level system, are under way in all Departments. During the past year, real progress has been made. We have delivered a permanent cut to student fees, which I have been raising, which helps families across the country. We have also strengthened the technological university sector and created 55 new professorships across the country to support teaching and research. The Minister mentioned the first permanent reduction in costs since 1995. That improvement and delivery has to be acknowledged.

This Government must stand over its commitment to continue to lower student contribution costs in order to reduce the financial pressure on students and families permanently. It must be an ongoing priority. I ask the Government to honour that commitment, in full, during the term of this Government.

The Department has secured €4.5 billion in funding under the national development plan. Only recently we have unlocked, through the national training fund, NTF, a surplus allowing it to be used to support skills and training across the whole sector. One of the things that was said here was to "spend wisely" because we are looking for accountability across all Departments at a time where there has been wastage on some public projects in other Departments. Keep an eye on the spend and the wastage will no longer exist.

Student accommodation is now a key part of our education system. Without affordable and secure housing, many students cannot take up their places or fully take part in college life. Student numbers are rising, so we must really plan ahead. Last month, the Minister published a student accommodation strategy, as has just been mentioned. Under the previous strategy, 16,000 beds were delivered. Demand is growing, as we can see. We now need around 42,000 more beds, as the Minister said. One of the issues we have, as I think the Minister mentioned, is that there are 3,000 beds currently under construction. With the 300,000 target this Government faces in housing construction until 2030 - and given the need for the 14,000 beds that have planning permission, including the 3,000 that have started - my fear going forward is whether the Government will meet its targets. Perhaps the Minister can clarify that for me.

The next page is about apprenticeships and all of that. My fear is that we are really kicking the can down the road in that we need apprenticeships to be rolled out a bit faster. Some of the apprenticeships take four years and an electrical apprenticeship could be reduced to three or maybe three and a half years. Will the skilled workforce that is coming out now deliver 300,000 houses, and 42,000 beds by 2035 as well?

The new higher education institution student accommodation programme will allow universities to work with private developers through nomination agreements and the use of HEI-owned sites. This will help to deliver accommodation at scale using standard designs and through better use of lands to reduce costs. We are also supporting flexible options such as the rent-a-room scheme, but increasing supply is not enough and affordability is a serious matter.

Almost 30,000 students will benefit from the €200 increase to the non-adjacent SUSI grant announced in budget 2026. In total, financial supports for students now amount to €176 million each year, alongside the rent tax credit of up to €2,000 for jointly assessed couples. This is a game changer for many people, it has to be welcomed and I thank the Minister for that. The implementation of the strategy is also under way and a programme board has been set up, including the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, and the HEA, and representatives from both university sectors. Work with NewERA and the Department of public expenditure is ongoing to resolve issues with technological universities' nomination agreements.

To move on to the committee's report on apprenticeships, it was a proud effort from the committee of which I am a member. There were 48 recommendations in that report. The one thing about reports is that everyone welcomes them and there is a ticker-tape parade for most of them but unfortunately some of the reports lie on top of shelves and stuff like that. Will all 48 recommendations be seriously looked at? The next time the Minister comes back into the House for statements, which recommendations will be picked? There are a lot of brilliant recommendations in the report on foot of our time as a committee meeting apprentices across the country and across different areas to discuss what apprenticeships bring. Apprenticeships do and will play a bigger role in meeting Ireland's skills needs, especially as we build more homes, expand infrastructure and respond to climate challenges.

Artificial intelligence, AI, is also exploding. As we speak, the need to prepare and adjust our college courses to ensure readiness must be a priority. The big question is whether we are ready for this. According to recent reports, AI will cost this country jobs in the future, so how we roll out preparations in our education sector to counteract that requires a big plan ahead.

The previous action plan delivered strong results. By the end of 2025, the apprentice population reached 31,165. That was an increase of almost 60% since 2010. Annual registration rose by 9,461 and funding has increased by 125% since 2020. This year, more than €410 million will be invested in the apprenticeship system. I hope there will be an awareness of the attractiveness of apprenticeships, as I mentioned in our report recommendations, to be driven by guidance counsellor reform in our schools. This gives us a strong base to reach the programme for Government target of 12,500 new registrations per year. Everything is target-driven now. There are now 81 national apprenticeship programmes available, as well as 25 craft apprenticeships in traditional SOLAS trades and 56 consortia-led apprenticeships. The next action plan must focus on sustainable growth and strong supports for both apprentices and employers. I ask the Minister that the work done in the committee in drawing up the recommendations for apprenticeships will be taken into full consideration.On the adult educator contracts, I recognise the important work of tutors and adult educators in the further education and training sector. Their commitment and skill make a real difference to learners across the country. Our committee heard concerns from the Adult Education Teachers Organisation. While an approved education and teaching organisation, the AETO is not a recognised trade union. Many of its members were represented by the TUI and SIPTU during negotiations on the new adult educator grade. These people were before us in committee as well. I ask the Minister if their issues will be discussed. I ask for clarity and acknowledgement and better pay and conditions for these people. Across student accommodation, apprenticeships, adult education and research, we are delivering on the commitments set out in the programme for Government and permanently reducing costs for students. The Opposition might not pat the Minister on the back for that, but I will. There is more to come.

Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)
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The lack of availability and the unaffordability of what is available are proving a barrier to some pursuing further and higher education options. We see many young people forced to live at home with parents, which is the last thing they want to do. After doing their leaving certificate, they want to experience college life and get away. I know a lad doing his leaving certificate next week and he cannot wait to get away. Hopefully it will all work out for him in the autumn.

The fact that students are living at home is putting pressure on them because they are commuting. The options for commuting are not always reliable, whether it is the bus service, the train service or even if they are driving, with traffic and everything else. There is a cost to that. It is not just a financial cost, although there is that too. There is also a cost in terms of their ability to study. They will be tired from all of the commuting. There is a cost in terms of their ability to engage in college life. Of those who are renting, approximately 60% are struggling to pay the rent. Many of them are working part-time, or almost full-time, to cover the costs. That is also having an impact on their ability to study and live their lives. Many of them are dropping out because they cannot maintain both the job and their studies.

The Minister pointed out that 42,000 units have been identified as being needed by 2035. However, a report by Sherry Fitzgerald in February stated there is a deficit of almost 39,000 now in our major cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. That could increase those who are commuting are factored in. Demand is huge. It will take the State, private developers and colleges working together to ensure there is sufficient accommodation in the coming years. However, targets are not being met as it is. Many of the projects for which planning permissions have been given are not being developed and cost is a huge factor in that. When these developments are built, most of them are not affordable to students. All of that needs to be addressed.

I welcome that the borrowing framework for technological universities has been worked out. Representatives of many of the TUs appeared before the committee and had plans practically ready to go. They would be able to develop purpose-built accommodation on land. I am delighted that the borrowing framework is in place, and they can progress those plans to provide accommodation. One college that has a lot of accommodation is UCD, but it is extremely expensive. I have heard of students being charged over €11,000 for a year for accommodation. The cost may vary but it is very high. We want to see a good standard of accommodation provided to our students, but it does not have to be over the top. It just needs to be basic quality accommodation.

There is an over-reliance in the student accommodation strategy on digs and the rent a room scheme. We know of many arrangements that work out really well. I have known people who have used digs over the years, but there are some perilous arrangements as well. I have heard of students who are not allowed to stay at weekends. They may be allowed to stay for only three or four nights during the week and then they have to move all of their stuff. They cannot have friends over. They cannot use the kitchen or have a shower after a certain time. We have the sex-for-rent scandals as well, which are even more serious. We need protections for people who rent a room or take digs in a house. At the moment, they do not come under the Residential Tenancies Board or any other such body.

I am concerned by the cost of developing purpose-built student accommodation. It seems very high. I know construction costs have increased across the board for all building, whether private or not. I do not know if construction or development companies are taking advantage of the fact that they know there is a huge deficit and, therefore, pressure to have purpose-built student accommodation. The Minister will tell me the contracts go out to tender and so forth but I wonder why the cost is so high.

Student contribution fees were reduced last year. I hope we will see a further reduction this year. I know the Minister will not confirm that at this stage, but I hope it happens.

On SUSI, I have been contacted by a couple of people, one of whom is a young lad who was born in this country. He went to primary and post-primary school here. He did well in the leaving certificate a year ago, applied for college and was accepted, but when he applied for the SUSI grant he was denied because his parents are visa holders. They are here on work permits, but his father has been here for more than 20 years, working and contributing to the economy. The young man was deemed not to qualify for a SUSI grant, which I feel is unfair. I understand that someone who has just moved here might not be entitled to this kind of support but this is someone who was born and reared here and whose parents have contributed to the economy. He should be entitled to SUSI. He has applied again this year and I hope he will be successful. If not, I may come back to the Minister to seek some guidance on the case.

Another young girl was not born here but has been here since she was seven or eight years of age. Most of her schooling was done here and she is in the same situation. Her parents, who are non-European, are here on work permits and she is deemed not to qualify. That is unfair for these students who have worked really hard, got good results and want to progress. This is their home. It is the only country they have known living in, and they are being denied opportunities. Their parents cannot afford to pay for them privately.

Students' unions do great work supporting students in our colleges, but they are under pressure. They say they are acting almost like letting agencies because student accommodation is such a big issue and they are trying to support so many students. That puts a lot of pressure on their ability to support students on other issues. In fact, in a number of colleges they have had to open food banks. That is very serious. There should be more supports given to students' unions to support students. What we need are more interventions in the area of affordable and available accommodation, and cost-of-living supports for students who are finding it difficult to make ends meet.

Garret Kelleher (Fine Gael)
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I understand Senator Harmon is sharing time with Senator Cosgrove. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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I thank the Minister for giving us the opportunity to discuss this issue. A few weeks ago, ATU and the students' union delivered a presentation in the audiovisual room. It was a student-based survey carried out among local ATU students and property owners on the availability of student accommodation. It found that the situation has deteriorated, rather than getting better.

I am sure the Minister is aware of difficulties with accommodation in Sligo that was supposed to be purpose-built student accommodation but ended up not being so. The regulations on borrowing for technological universities frustrated it. The Minister referred to this issue in his opening statement. We were talking about a partnership approach. Sligo County Council and ATU have a good working partnership. A 16-acre site in the ownership of Sligo County Council has been identified as a good site for developing purpose-built student accommodation to facilitate ATU. Agreement has been reached with ATU that it could be purchased. Unfortunately, while ATU has enough money to buy the site, it does not have the resources to fund the construction. This is where the borrowing framework comes in. It does not include enough details on how the TUs are able to borrow.We are looking at the prioritisation of certain colleges. That prioritisation comes from central government and then some of the technological universities feel they are stuck. For example, Atlantic Technological University, ATU, Sligo feels like it is stuck but it is a really growing university because we have this really good relationship, if we are looking at a partnership, between Sligo County Council and ATU Sligo. Because ATU has not been identified as one of the priority projects, we feel like we are in limbo and are stuck. There are 2,700 staff and 30,000 students and it is growing all the time because Sligo is an area of growth. It is in an area within the north west that is recognised as an area of significant growth. There are new courses coming in such as the five-year masters in pharmacy. It is a huge deal for a TU to have the big high-point careers that were in the traditional universities. We need to back the technological universities a bit more and we need to get clarity on the borrowing framework. The prioritisation should not be just from central government, especially when we have needs identified locally and where they have the ability to buy the site but they do not have the ability to borrow to build on it.

I also want to talk about having joined-up co-operation with the Department of Transport for delivering an early morning commuter train from Longford. Everything is there for it and it just needs the green light. That would alleviate a huge amount of the student accommodation problem in Sligo. There is a train ready to come into Sligo for 8.15 a.m., and it would make a huge difference to alleviate the problem at the moment.

Laura Harmon (Labour)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. It is great to have this discussion here on such an important issue as student accommodation. When we talk about student accommodation, this is part of the wider housing crisis, but it is not just about housing. It is about access to education in general, be it further education, apprenticeships or higher education. It is also a question of the cost of living and of student poverty. This is so important. I know I always say it but I was the president of the Union of Students of Ireland 11 years ago. This was an issue then and it is becoming even more of an issue now. We knew this was an issue then and I believe there was not enough forward planning and action put in place at the time. Now we are in the situation we are in. The president of the Munster Technological University is on record at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science as saying that student housing is now the biggest barrier to access to college in Ireland. This is a significant statement. We know that people are commuting for hours every day. People are sleeping on couches and these numbers are not recorded. They are part of those hidden homelessness figures. We have a lot of overcrowding in student housing as well, and there is a need for more inspections of that. We have people who are considering deferring college because they cannot find somewhere to live. We can predict the headlines every September about the scramble for student accommodation. It has been the same every year for 15 years-plus and it will be the same again this year, unfortunately, during what should be a very exciting time for people when they are embarking on that journey. There is research on the shortfall of beds currently, and I would question whether the student accommodation strategy is ambitious enough in addressing that shortfall of beds. There is mixed messaging and a mixed reception to the strategy from student unions, students and colleges. The colleges have questions about the risk they might be undertaking financially in building student accommodation on campus. We cannot afford to wait ten years for action on this.

Students in Cork face some of the highest rents in the country. We know there are students paying up to €330 a week for shared accommodation and for sharing bathrooms. Students are paying €450 a week for studios. What we need is affordable and good quality accommodation. It is not luxury we are looking for. My colleague Deputy Eoghan Kenny has also raised this with the Minister in the Dáil. The Deputy quoted a figure that for every 13 students in Cork and Kerry, there only about ten beds available. There are 206 beds in Cork under a commencement notice, with planning for 1,700 more. We need to ensure, however, that more beds are made available.

I also question part of the evaluation of the student accommodation strategy. Will the rent-a-room relief scheme be included in that in the number of beds that are made available? Will modular homes or sheds that are built in back gardens be counted in those figures if students are living in those? I think that is a cop out. I do not think they can be classified as purpose-built student accommodation. We also need more protection under licensee agreements for those living in digs. A lot of those students are very vulnerable and international students cannot just go home on the weekend. They cannot just have Monday to Friday leases. Another issue I have been vocal on and have tried to champion since becoming a Senator is the sex-for-rent issue, which was mentioned here. We know that 5% of international students have seen ads for this or they have been directly propositioned. Again, this needs to be clamped down on. Legislation from the Minister for justice is proposed and the Bill is going through the Houses of the Oireachtas. We need to make sure this legislation is as strong as it possibly can be.

Technological universities need to borrow, acquire land and build their own accommodation as part of this. It was very disappointing to see colleges, particularly UCC and DCU, trying to overcome the rent pressure zone legislation and caps by increasing service charges. We need to have a rent cap and we need to clamp down on this legislatively. The Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, has a role in ensuring this is regulated.

I will make one last comment as I know my time is out. The House knows my views on the student contribution fee. I would see this as an increase and not a cut on the previous year. It needs to be reduced further. I state on the record that Fine Gael Senators resolutely opposed that measure that was taken in the previous budget with the increase. They are on record in this House opposing that. We need to ensure it is reduced further during the lifetime of this Government. That was the commitment in the programme for Government. Students and families need clarity on that as well. It was the late great Niamh Bhreathnach who brought in free fees for third level in the 1990s. The Minister has an opportunity to have that moment as well.

Garret Kelleher (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator. We have about eight minutes until I am due to call the Minister to respond to the debate and we have four people looking to speak. That puts us under time pressure. Are all four speakers happy with two minutes each?

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I could stay later if that helps the House.

Garret Kelleher (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister but, unfortunately, we cannot as the next item will be starting at 6.15 p.m., so we will keep it to two minutes if is that agreed. Agreed.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is very welcome. I know him to be a politician of conviction, particularly when it comes to education and access to it for everybody of every type of ability and those with mixed abilities. The Minister has done a lot of work already. I note a report that came out today, the Mid-term Progress Review of the National Access Plan 2022-2028 for higher education and equity of access. We have actually gone beyond the targets and we are two years ahead. I commend the Minister on that. It is really important. Expanding access and excellence has to be key to everything we do.

In the short time I have, there are two things I will bring up with the Minister. The first is the importance of transversal education, the non-formal and informal, to make our young people very well-rounded young people so that they can develop resilience. It is important this is factored into everything. For some young people leaving secondary school, going into third level or further level can be quite daunting. Anything we can do to help and support has to be considered.

The Minister will not be surprised to hear me speak on the need for apprenticeships in north-west Kildare. We badly need this in a place where Bord na Móna was synonymous with apprenticeships. It is also about encouraging young people to be entrepreneurs and set up their own businesses.

The last thing I will mention is an individual called Des Henry who has done incredible work with the WALK PEER programme. He works in Walkinstown with WALK.It is around career guidance for young people with disabilities leaving school. Unfortunately, they are now actually shunted back into day services. We need to do more and he has an excellent plan to do it. I will talk to the Minister separately to get support on that.

Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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The Minister is once again welcome back into this Chamber and I welcome the opportunity to speak on student accommodation and supports. With two minutes, I am going to have run through a lot of the other things and not go through things that have been said already.

I welcome the student accommodation strategy. The Minister put it very well when he spoke about viability, allowing to build, and affordability, enabling and empowering the students to be able to afford the accommodation. The 42,000 beds by 2035 is a good, ambitious target. The current demand is 15,000 so it is great to see a Department looking to well exceed the current demand because that is very important. It is achievable because with the rent-a-room scheme, you are going to hit about 10,000 of those beds through digs and renting out accommodation in private homes. We welcome the VAT reductions and rent reforms and the flexible design elements the Minister spoke about as well. They are all very welcome.

I refer to something Senator Boyhan mentioned about third level food and trying to create that scheme. That scheme was there in the past when the Council for Education, Recruitment and Training, CERT, were in all of our technical institutes. The equipment and facilities are there, or most of it, and there is huge demand. We had the Restaurants Association of Ireland in last week talking to us about the lack of skills there. It is potentially not a huge budget; it is actually just expanding your apprenticeship model to include that and I would love to see that looked at again.

The Minister has €176 million committed for student supports, including bursaries and grants. That is very welcome and we want to see him delivering that. I would like to mention the Athlone green city plan. We have Mr. Sean Mulryan committing to 5,000 student beds, and if any man in this country can deliver that, it is definitely him. I would love to see the Minister's engagement with that particular project. There is also the access to skills for people with disabilities. There is a €36 million budget under the workability programme there - I know I have gone over time, I am sorry - but there are still barriers there. The barriers are leading to issues with our delivery on housing, student accommodation and infrastructure and we could do with having a conversation or a further debate on that.

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for being here in the House this evening. I will start by seconding everything Senator Dee Ryan said. She gave a comprehensive overview of the work the Minister has done and I want to put on record my support for that.

In the two minutes or one minute and 45 seconds I have left, I will focus on student accommodation. I thank the Minister for responding to me last week when I was in a flurry. The Minister I am talking to is continuously responding, and I want to acknowledge that. While I accept the strategy has developed, I do have concerns about it. I am really worried. Three thousand are in building, 14,000 have planning permissions but there is 42,000 of a need. We need to be bold, ambitious and pragmatic. The Minister is the Minister responsible but I do not think he can do it on his own. He needs the help of the Ministers for housing, public expenditure and reform and Finance, who need to come to the table. The Minister needs to convene a round-table consultation on this.

While nobody wants to talk about rent pressure zones, I think we should have student pressure zones. We should have student caps. I would go as far as saying that not everybody will be able to afford shiny and new when shiny and new arrives. Shiny and new is costing a minimum of €1,100 to every parent at the moment. That is the starting point, going all the way up to €1,480. I can talk about it. I had three children in college last year so I am living proof of it. My sister is in exactly the same position. We want to give our children the best but it is actually quite expensive to do it.

What I would say in relation to the rent cap is we might bring a lot of people in out of the black market. Maybe we should work with our student unions, where we could use an ID to be able to cap a bed. We also need to look at the income tax earned for those beds. Maybe we should look at removing that income tax so we can free up those beds. The reason I talk about those beds in our inner cities and main towns - and I am talking about Galway - is that we want to ensure our students can walk safely to and from college. Finally, stamp duty and capital gains need to be looked, and that is for the Departments of Finance and public expenditure and reform.

Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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The Minister is very welcome and I am delighted to be here to be able to speak. I thank the Acting Chair for sharing out the time. College is about deepening our education but it is also a rite of passage. It is where young people fly the nest and start to get their independence. They learn to manage their budget for themselves and it is when they realise their washing does not magically get clean.

The Government's student accommodation strategy at least acknowledges the scale of the problem, and that is good. It estimates that we have a requirement for 42,000 additional student beds by 2035 but is unclear how this will actually happen. What is the strategy to increase construction? I think Senator Rabbitte touched on that. Is it just the increased capacity for colleges to access finances or is there more? I am not clear on that.

There needs to be far greater responsibility placed on higher education institutions themselves. If colleges are increasing student numbers, then accommodation capacity must form part of the expansion plan. There was a 10% increase in international students in the 2024-25 academic year. We cannot continue to recruit students into courses without any realistic plan for where they will live. Students are travelling four hours a day because they cannot find accommodation. Others are couch surfing, living in overcrowded houses or spending most of their grant on rent before they even buy a book or eat a meal.

I am also uneasy about proposals from the Minister that would reduce time physically spent on campus. The social side of college matters enormously, especially at a time when loneliness, anxiety and mental health difficulties among young people are increasing. The strategy, as it stands, may deliver some additional accommodation but it will undoubtedly lead to the same cost for students and the current astronomical rents we have come to normalise.

Garret Kelleher (Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir. I thank all Senators for their understanding of the curtailed speaking time. I apologise for being a bit stricter than usual with my use of the bell.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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What I am going to do is take each of the comments. There were a number of comments. I thank everybody for their contributions and I am going to step through the different issues that were raised. How much time do I have?

Garret Kelleher (Fine Gael)
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Ten minutes.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Grand. I thank Senator Dee Ryan for setting out a number of items that I have been progressing over the past year. I thank her for her support on that as well as Fianna Fáil spokesperson in the Seanad, and indeed the wider team. I thank the wider House for its ongoing engagement on these matters. It was a pleasure to visit Limerick recently with Senator Ryan and see the Whitebox development with 1,500 beds that are about to come on stream. It utilised the new design template that I published. It was great to see that bearing fruit already in them being able to use it. We published that ahead of the wider strategy last June. They used that in their design and it is now coming on stream, so that is great to see. I take the point about local authorities playing a part as well. That is very important. This is something where the State must use all levers at its disposal - State lands and assets, local authorities, agencies and the colleges themselves. We all need to work together to make that happen.

Of course, the Senator stepped through the viability measures including the 9% VAT rate and a variety of measures we need to look at. On the protection window, which I am going to turn to a couple of times, a number of people spoke about rent caps and protecting students. As Senator Ryan outlined, I have included in the legislation, which is now on the Statute Book, a three-year carve-out. No student can have their rent reset for a minimum of three years into their tenancy, despite the fact that students will, very often, come and go by summer. It is stitched into the law now that regardless of how many times students come and go from a particular unit, the rent cannot be reset other than after a minimum three-year window, which is very important.

Senator Boyhan talked about a number of things. I acknowledge his comments on innovation and research. We might return to those in here another day. He mentioned Trinity College Dublin, TCD, and Dartry Hall. For the information of the House - people may or may not be aware - I have approved a project under the short-term activation fund to deliver, I think, 350-odd beds in Dartry Hall. It is either under way or will certainly be getting under way very quickly. That will progress well and it is, again, a really tangible impact with beds coming on stream. I also take on board - I am sure he will have a look back - the Senator's comments around the idea of a free hot meal for third level students. It is something I will examine as a pilot. I would mention the student assistance fund, which is a €20 million fund. Senator Boyhan is on cue; we could not have Hamlet without the prince.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I always come back to listen to the Minister. Cheers.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Good man. I am replying to his comment on the free student meal. It is something I will have a look at. There is a €20 million fund, the student assistance fund, which colleges can use at their discretion. If a particular college wanted to start utilising that for that purpose, that would be within its control.If the Senator knows any that are interested, he might encourage them along to that. Certainly, I am happy to work with him on that and see what happens there.

The other point Senator Boyhan made - again, a few others touched on this as well - was about broad education, that is, the idea that it is not just about what happens in the classroom or in the lecture hall but also about the sport, the participation, the friendships, the networks and all that campus life. I have been very strong, I hope, on advocating for broad education. It is not even necessarily about a deep dive into one particular specialty but about the opportunity during a university education to sample humanities, sciences, commerce and the wider world in order that when you go forward, particularly in an age of AI and digital evolution, you will not be tied to one particular set of skills but will have the ability to be transversal, as a number of Senators have said, and can bring those skills with you.

Senator Kennelly spoke about the cost of education, improving access and the 55 professorships in the technological universities which I have introduced. He mentioned correctly the need to amplify our apprenticeship output and our skills. One thing I frequently speak to is matching the Government's ambition in terms of infrastructure, construction, energy, grid, transport, ports, roads and railways, not to mention housing front and centre. We need to have the trades, the skills and the people ready to do that. Just tomorrow morning, as it happens, I am hosting a construction round-table event. I am bringing about 40 different companies in the construction sector together along with my training agencies, SOLAS, the ETBs and the Higher Education Authority and having a round-table discussion to say, "What are the skills you need? What are you getting from the training system? Have you enough, and if not, tell me, and then I can actually begin to pay for the system to supply those skills." It is paramount to deliver other serious projects, which we absolutely want to do. We need to make sure we have the skills and personnel ready to do it. As it happens, tomorrow morning, I am bringing all those bodies together to work through that. That is so important.

Senator Cosgrove spoke about the strategy as it pertains particularly to Sligo. In terms of ATU, the first phase of the strategy talks about Dublin, Cork and Galway so, obviously, ATU Galway can participate in that. However, it does not stop there. The first phase is where we have expressions of interest and we go out to colleges in those three cities and say, "What do you have ready to go? Are you interested in partaking in this? Talk to us about your proposals." I have said clearly, and I said it to President Orla Flynn when I met her last week, that if there are proposals outside of those three cities and they are ready to go, people should come straight in the door with them. I will not stand on ceremony or wait for six months in line with the 12 months to get to another phase. If there are projects around the country, in any part of the country, that are ready to go, let us take them now and get them moving. I have said that, and Senators should feel free to speak to the people in the different colleges and areas they represent because I will not wait around for anything. Let us get this moving as quickly as we possibly can.

In addition, I totally agree with Senator Cosgrove's remarks about the pharmacy school coming into ATU. I launched the veterinary school in Letterkenny ATU just recently as well. I completely agree that it is so important and transformative to have professional qualifications delivered across the TUs in regional areas where previously they were the preserve of the big cities. Dublin was the only place and UCD was the only college in the country where you could do veterinary until now. Now you can do it in three places: SETU, ATU and UCD.

Senator Harmon spoke about supporting colleges through the roll-out. I absolutely agree, and again, we have an engagement group up and running and we have had a number of meetings already with a number of colleges. I know the Senator has a national remit but she spoke to Cork as well about the MTU and Cork. As I said a moment ago, any projects that are ready to go should approach us immediately. Cork is actually in the first phase of the strategy in any event, so they are already being engaged with in MTU and in UCC. I was in UCC just last week. I met President O'Halloran and we talked about the strategy as regards UCC as well.

Senator Harmon also talked about the student protections and I completely share her concerns about that. That is why I introduced in the legislation the three-year protection window - to make sure that student tenancies are not reset. As regards the way it was done with the new landlord-tenant legislation on RPZs, had I not made that intervention, they would have been subject to an annual reset when they vacated, so I had to proactively intervene and secure amendments in the legislation. That was done and that happened and that is now law.

I thank Senator O'Loughlin for her kind words. The mid-term review of the national access plan is really impactful and shows progress being made in an empirical way. We had a target of students with disabilities participating in higher and further education. We have actually exceeded our targets for 2028 and 2026, so for the past 15 months we have got two years ahead of schedule. We will not rest on our laurels; we will continue to drive that on and to do more. It goes back to the point I have often made about targeted supports, which is that rather than something for everyone in the audience, we ask who the cohorts that particularly need assistance are and who particularly needs help. For students with disabilities, obviously a cohort that fits into that category, we have given those additional supports and now we see the fruits of that coming through already. I will continue to work on that, but that was really positive.

On Senator O'Loughlin's comments about the opportunity for north-west Kildare to play its part in apprenticeship delivery, she will be pleased to know I have already spoken to Kildare and Wicklow ETB on that, encouraging it very strongly to put forward proposals we can then work with.

I thank Senator Scahill for his comments. He is right that we are going way beyond what we currently anticipate as the need. In terms of the 15,000 deficit, we are looking at 42,000. Let us not always be on the back foot; let us actually get ahead of it. That is very much the intention. I am familiar with the Athlone green city initiative. I have had a number of meetings about that and I admire the ambition that is there and certainly want to support that in every way I can.

Senator Rabbitte has a very good sense of the student pressure zones in terms of rent pressure zones. I will certainly look at that and I think it will be taken into account when the colleges sit down with others. Senator O'Reilly asked a question about how this will actually work in practice. One of the ways it will work is that the colleges identify sites, which they can develop themselves if they wish to do so, or they can partner with the private sector to come on site and build it out for them. Part of that conversation will be about what the rent will be. The colleges have the opportunity to be involved in that conversation and set a rent that is appropriate to them and that they are comfortable with on behalf of their students. That is part of that engagement. There is a very long lease built in here as regards the nominations agreement, so there is comfort for everybody in that once they get the terms of that agreed to their satisfaction, it is very doable for them.

Senator Rabbitte mentioned that she had three children in college at one stage. Fair play to her. My mother had four of us in college at the same time and it is not easy. It is something I am minded to examine in the budget. I will not make any promises about budgets but I am certainly very mindful of that. Senator Ryan has also mentioned it in the past and other Senators and other Deputies have mentioned it. Where there is a family with multiple children attending college at the one time, again, there should be targeted intervention, that is, that little bit of extra help for those families. I am very minded to examine that.

Senator O'Reilly asked about how it actually works and the mechanics of it. We have an engagement team up and running, and all the presidents of the colleges have been briefed on it right across the TUs and the universities. That team has now come to the detail of the proposals. Effectively, they suggest land banks or sites within their campuses that might be appropriate for accommodation. They then come and speak to my team. They can be matched up with private finance where necessary. There is now also the borrowing framework for TUs, which was not there previously. Then they can come to terms that are agreeable to all and go ahead and build it.

I noticed that Senator O'Reilly also mentioned spending time on campus. I completely agree. It is so important. It goes back to the broad education point I made. It is one of the reasons I vetoed an early draft proposal to have more remote timetabling. I do not think it is appropriate. I think it may be of benefit but it is not something I can stand over as a solution, so I was very keen that students have the benefit of a college education. That means being in college. It does not mean being at a lecture remotely on Zoom every night. You really miss out on the experience by doing that.

Finally, in terms of access and student supports, I will publish an options paper in the coming weeks. As I did last year, I met students' associations, access groups, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and a number of different groups and we had a very good session recently where we got around the table and listened to what students' asks, wants and needs were. I am putting those into an options paper, where I will itemise the different requests, put a price against each one, because all these things have Exchequer commitments, and, for the first time this year, something I initiated with the economics unit in my department, we will put an impact against each item as well. If we do this, how much does it cost, and then what is the impact of doing it? I will publish that and I would welcome a debate about that and feedback on it when it is out in the ether.

Thank you, Chair, for having me here. I thank colleagues for a very good engagement, as always, and I look forward to working with them into the future.

Garret Kelleher (Fine Gael)
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Go raibh míle maith agat, a Aire, agus gabhaim buíochas leis na Seanadóirí ar fad a ghlac páirt sa díospóireacht.