Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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299. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if discussions are expected with colleges to help students acquire accommodation in the student complexes that are housed by families and not students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46444/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Neither I nor my Department are aware of instances where Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) owned purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) is as the Deputy suggests being used for the accommodation of persons who are not students. During the Summer months in 2022 a number of HEIs provided their student accommodation for persons fleeing the war in the Ukraine but it is understood all such accommodation has been, or is being, reverted to its primary usage for students ahead of the start of the academic year. Outside of the academic year the short term rental of student accommodation is a matter for the HEIs as autonomous institutions.

My officials are currently engaged in a series of meetings with HEIs in relation to the development of a new policy, agreed by Government, which for the first time would see the State intervening to assist with the cost of building PBSA in return for affordable rents for students. A section dedicated to student accommodation had been established in my Department to progress this policy and that section is conducting meetings with representative bodies, students and other stakeholders as well as individual HEIs in the context of assisting in developing pathways to accommodation and accelerating their delivery.