John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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122. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views that, in Dublin, the shortage of accommodation together with the cost of available accommodation is resulting in a pattern of non-progression to third level, especially for students from outside of Dublin who wish to attend third level in the capital; his plans to make some National Asset Management Agency owned properties available for affordable student accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22921/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Alleviating the housing crisis is a cross-Government priority and the available analysis indicates that the lack of suitable rental accommodation for students is driving up rents in the private rental sector, particularly in areas where demand for rental property is high. This is contributing to what we know is already a considerable strain on some students and their families to participate in higher education with knock-on effects on completion rates. The reality is that dealing comprehensively with this issue will only take place as part of a more general programme to address the major housing and homelessness issue.

Accordingly, my colleague Mr. Simon Coveney T.D., Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, yesterday (19 July 2016) published "Rebuilding Ireland – an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness", following Government approval of this comprehensive and ambitious Plan. The full plan can be accessed at: .

This Plan provides a multi-stranded, action-oriented approach to achieving many of the Government's key housing objectives, as set down in the Programme for a Partnership Government, to significantly increase the supply of social housing, to double the output of overall housing from the current levels to at least 25,000 per annum by 2020, to service all tenure types, and to tackle homelessness in a comprehensive manner.

This whole-of-Government Plan has been developed in close collaboration with other key Government Departments and Agencies, under the oversight of a dedicated Cabinet Committee chaired by An Taoiseach. The Plan was also informed by the Report of the Special Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness (published on 17 June 2016), as well as through extensive consultation with stakeholders.

My Department has worked closely with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government in the development of this Action Plan, with a specific focus on Student Accommodation, and the following measures detailed in the Plan are of direct relevance to this issue:

1. The Department of Education and Skills in conjunction with a number of other key stakeholders will prepare and publish a national student accommodation strategy, which will set out a broad framework for delivery of an enhanced level of accommodation and which will inform local authority housing strategies and the land management process in general, in order to provide suitably located and affordable sites. This will be prepared with a view to developing a national policy on specific needs and mechanisms for the development of appropriate on-campus and off-campus student accommodation.

2. My Department will work with stakeholders to prioritise and progress viable projects to provide additional student accommodation in key urban areas. This will be done with a view to bringing onstream proposals capable of delivering an additional 7,000 student accommodation places by end 2019, on or off campus, in addition to projects already committed to.

3. Dedicated delivery structures, such as Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), will be established in the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) sector to access Housing Finance Agency (HFA) funding and complete any required policy, regulatory or legislative changes necessary. This will be done with a view to providing additional funding mechanisms for the HEI sector, in conjunction with the HFA.

4. My Department will help to fund a Student Housing Officer to work with the Union of Students in Ireland, local authorities, AHBs and housing providers to identify and expand short-term capacity enhancing measures in the student accommodation sector. This will be done with a view to assisting students in finding appropriate accommodation.

5. Funding mechanisms will be established for Institutes of Technology to support the development of their student accommodation capacity. This is to facilitate the Institute of Technology sector in developing their potential for on-campus student accommodation through addressing current borrowing capacity and funding constraints.

6. The Department of Housing Planning and Local Government in conjunction with the Department of Education and Skills will carry out an assessment of scope for provision of additional student accommodation on local authority or other publicly-owned lands with a view to maximising the potential for student accommodation provision on suitable sites as part of mixed developments.

7. The Department of Housing Planning and Local Government will enable student accommodation projects for 100 units or more to go straight to An Bord Pleanála, as well as maximise the opportunities for joint venture projects on local authority sites to proceed through the Part 8 process and prepare guidance on planning policies around student accommodation developments. This will be done to enhance certainty and reduce delivery timescales and costs associated with bringing student accommodation proposals forward.

The Actions in the Plan in relation to Student Accommodation build on the report, Student Accommodation: Demand & Supply, which was published last year by the Minister for Education and Skills and which sets out clearly that the demand for student accommodation outstrips supply in certain areas, and will continue to do so in the coming years.

The full report can be accessed at .

The previous Minister for Education and Skills introduced two immediate actions following the publication of this report.

Firstly, funding was provided by the HEA to the Union of Students (USI) in Ireland to progress short-term solutions for students in need of accommodation. This funding will allow USI to develop their homes.usi.iewebsite, to communicate more effectively to student and homeowners, and to carry out research into this important issue.

Secondly, the establishment of an inter-departmental steering group to examine the recommendations contained in the HEA Report and to provide a co-ordinating mechanism to ensure that the higher education institutions have access to information on new potential funding and delivery models.

In addition to this, I should point out that a number of our Higher Education Institutions have Student Accommodation projects ongoing, or in the pipeline, with a number of additional on-campus Student Accommodation bed-spaces to come online from September 2016. Maynooth University has 296 new on-campus bed spaces, and UCD has 350 new on-campus bed spaces, which are due to come onstream in Autumn 2016. Six other Higher Education Institutions are currently engaged in, or going through the planning phases for student accommodation projects, namely, National University of Ireland Galway, Trinity College Dublin, University of Limerick, Dublin City University, University College Cork and Dublin Institute of Technology.

However, an even greater level of provision of student accommodation is required and accordingly this Action Plan commits to the development of a National Student Accommodation Strategy in 2017 by the Department of Education and Skills in conjunction with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and other stakeholders including the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Finance. This will set out a broad framework for delivery of an enhanced level of accommodation and will inform local authority housing strategies and the land management process in general in order to provide suitably located and affordable sites.

I very much welcome the commitments contained in the plan and I look forward to working with colleagues on a cross-Departmental basis to ensure that the commitments contained in the Plan are implemented as soon as practicable.