Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I’m acutely aware of the challenges facing students in securing accommodation this year, and my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are working closely together to address these issues.

The shortage of accommodation for students is happening in the context of the wider housing crisis.

In September the Government published Housing For All, a comprehensive plan which sets out the series of actions to be undertaken to fix the housing system. It has the largest ever housing budget in the history of the State. It aims to transform our housing system, with in excess of €20bn in funding provided through the Exchequer, the Land Development Agency (LDA) and the Housing Finance Agency over the next five years to support these actions. My Department is working with the Department of Housing to support the implementation of this plan.

There is ongoing engagement between the two departments at both Ministerial and official level. This includes a meeting last week between the two departments and our higher education institutions on the provision of purpose built student accommodation on campuses.

Recent engagement also resulted in the issuing of a circular to the Chief Executives of all local authorities, pointing to the critical need for purpose-built student accommodation to be available to meet the needs of students in third level education.

My Department and I will continue to work closely with Minister O'Brien and his officials on these issues and I am meeting Mr O'Brien next week.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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26. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the lack of student accommodation in Athlone, County Westmeath for students attending the Technological University Shannon Midlands Midwest; and the steps he will take to engage with the technological university to address the matter. [49855/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I was delighted to see Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest open its doors at the start of the month to become the third technological university in the State. The communities in areas where there are campuses of the new TU will benefit from a range of benefits over time. The universities will attract more students, they will help communities create and retain skills and employment, and they will act as a catalyst for research, innovation and enterprise. This will be critical to fostering our SME sector as well attracting increasing levels of investment, including Foreign Direct Investment, and so will contribute to regional and socio-economic development.

The development of purpose built student accommodation is an important part of increasing the attractiveness of the new TU to prospective students, as well as contributing to the overall supply of housing and accommodation.

The Government’s Housing For All plan contains a specific commitment to support TUs in their ambitions to develop purpose built student accommodation, where such a requirement exists, through access to appropriate financing. Housing For All also includes a specific action to legislate for Technological Universities to be allowed borrow from the Housing Finance Agency.

The development of student accommodation by technological universities would lead to an increased supply of student accommodation and relieve pressures on the broader private rental market. My officials are working closely with colleagues in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and with the technological sector, to progress these commitments.