Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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189. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of progress towards the objectives of the student accommodation strategy in view of the disruption to the construction sector over 2020 and to date in 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25143/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The National Student Accommodation Strategy (NSAS) was published in 2017 and is designed to support the delivery of an increased level of supply of purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) by reducing planning barriers for public and private sector developers of student accommodation and seeking to address financing barriers for our higher education institutions. The aim is to reduce the cost to the student by ensuring that there is a sufficient level of accommodation to meet future demand. The target as set out in Rebuilding Ireland and the NSAS is the provision of 7,000 bed spaces by end 2019 and a total of 21,000 additional PBSA beds by 2024. The 2019 target was surpassed, with 8,346 bed spaces completed by the end of the year. As of the end of 2020 more than 10,000 bed spaces have been completed.

However there has been a slowdown in construction in the student accommodation sector, as there has been throughout the construction industry, due to the impact of COVID-19. As Ireland continues to progress with the re-opening of the economy, it would be expected that the number of student accommodation projects being completed or moving on-site would once again increase. My Department will continue to carefully monitor the situation in order to ensure a strong supply pipeline for student accommodation. As the Deputy is aware, my position is the current policy needs reflecting on and I am working with colleagues across Government on this.