Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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120. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address concerns that the combination of rising rental prices and lack of supply of accommodation for students attending third level institutions will prohibit a large proportion of students living within a reasonable distance of their campus next year; and her plans to address this lack of supply of student accommodation. [25812/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I appreciate the concerns regarding the availability of accommodation for students 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 parts of the country are not experiencing the pressure on accommodation that we are seeing in Dublin and, to a lesser extent, Cork and Galway.

Some institutions provide a range of accommodation, and all colleges have an obligation to work with students' unions and other groups, to provide students with details on accommodation options.

Initiatives such as USI's 'Homes for Study' are of help to students and list suitable accommodation available to rent across Ireland.

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.