Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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380. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 312 of 4 May 2016, the outcome of his meeting with the students' union in the National University of Ireland Dublin on 2 September 2015; and if he committed to assisting the union in promoting a rent-a-room scheme and the steps he has taken in this regard [9735/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, met with University College Dublin Students’ Union and the Union of Students of Ireland (USI) on 2 September 2015 to discuss a range of issues relating to student accommodation, including the rent-a-room scheme. As set out in the reply to Question No 312 of 2 May 2016, this scheme was introduced with the aim of increasing the availability of rented residential accommodation. The governing legislation is contained in section 216A Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, and comes within the remit of the Minister for Finance.

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) Report, Student Accommodation: Demand and Supply, published in September 2015 contains a recommendation to encourage and support the take-up of the rent-a-room scheme by homeowners in areas adjacent to higher education institutions. The report assigns responsibility for that recommendation to the Department of Education and Skills, the HEA, USI and Higher Education Institutions.