Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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589. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to set out the extent to which a deficit in student accommodation has been identified in the catchment areas of the various third level institutions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26412/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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590. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to set out the extent to which a dearth of student accommodation has been identified in the vicinity of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth; her plans to address this issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26413/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 589 and 590 together.

I appreciate that there are concerns regarding the availability of accommodation for students in certain parts of the country and for that reason I have asked the HEA to report on this issue. The HEA are currently working on a draft report on student accommodation which will be available shortly and will give us an up to date picture of the situation. In that context, I will continue to work with Government colleagues and stakeholders to explore ways to increase the availability of student accommodation where needed. Many of our third-level institutions are currently working to develop additional accommodation for their students, which will help to address the issue in the medium term.

In the longer term, the Government is committed to addressing the housing shortage through the Construction 2020 strategy. This will not resolve all of our problems immediately, but I am confident that the implementation of Construction 2020 will provide us with a sustainable housing stock in the medium to longer term.