Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 September 2023
69. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for an update on the progress to expand the current offering of student accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40586/23]
View answerIn recent days and weeks, we have seen many young people starting college or starting their second, third and fourth year. It is a time that should be so exciting for young people but it is clouded by the housing crisis and the very real impact it has on students. I ask the Minister to give an update on what he is doing to expand the current offering of student accommodation.
I join Deputy Farrell in recognising the major milestone that starting third level education is for so many young people, and indeed not-so-young people. The Deputy and I have not met in the House since the results came out. This year, we saw three out of five students getting their top choice of course, and I acknowledge that achievement. However, the Deputy is right that the housing challenge is real and places stress and difficulty on students, particularly those who find they need to move to a different part of the country to undertake their study.
I assure the Deputy, students and parents that we are working tirelessly to try to address the supply of student accommodation, given the wider rental market challenges as well. I am very pleased that these are not just words and that we have changed Government policy regarding student accommodation. In November, as the Deputy will recall, I got the go-ahead from the Government for €61 million in capital and current funding to unlock the development of around 1,100 student accommodation beds. These were beds in Dublin City University, DCU, Limerick, Galway and Maynooth, which had planning permission but had been deemed to be not viable. We have intervened for the first time with taxpayers' money to start building purpose-built accommodation, including 242 beds at the University of Galway, which the Deputy knows very well. These are developments that had planning permission but had stalled because of increased construction and financing costs.
I want to go further faster. We are working with University College Dublin, UCD, and Trinity College Dublin to try to get two projects over the line. I intend to update the Government, probably as soon as next week or the week after, regarding the DCU development as well. We have provided €1 million to our technological universities - I know there are some questions on this later - so that they can prepare their plans for student accommodation. I expect to start seeing plans from each of the technological universities in 2024. This is an area that is receiving my attention.
To provide context, we are seeing students return to third level with more beds this year than last year. There are an additional 938 college-owned student accommodation beds this year compared to the last academic year, and 674 of them are in the University of Galway. There are also over 2,000 additional privately-funded beds due for completion this autumn.
The reality is that the cost of student accommodation is totally beyond the reach of many families. The issue here is that this is locking more young people out of access to third level education. We see that and hear it from our students' unions consistently. We also hear it when we are speaking to students. Yesterday, I was in UCD and I was told by one student that he is commuting from Cavan every day and spends many hours commuting as a result. In 2018, the Government had a report stating that by 2024, we would need an additional 21,000 student beds. Now we have learned from the Department again that current demand for student accommodation is over 30,000.
It is glaringly obvious that the Government is failing on the housing crisis in general. That is having an impact on students that exactly mirrors the wider housing crisis. I spoke to students across Dublin yesterday who told me that the cost of student accommodation is as high as €12,000. Who can afford that?
On the issue of cost, there are a number of ways the Government can help with the cost of rent, specifically for students. Last year, the Deputy will be aware that we got the finance Bill changed to make sure students could avail of the rent tax credit, including if they were renting a room or digs, and that their parents could avail of it if they were renting college-owned accommodation or purpose-built student accommodation. I heard the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, talking about wanting to increase the rent tax credit. If that increases in the budget, as I think it should, it must also increase for students and their parents to be able to avail of it. I think we should see a doubling of it.
We can also help people with the costs through grants. This year, for the first time in a very long time, student grants increased above the rate of inflation. While there are inflationary pressures, we have increased grants above by more than inflation. We also gave students €1,000 back in reduced registration fees.
I will be looking at different ways we can help students with the cost of rent and education between now and the budget on 10 October. We also need to increase supply. We need to do both. That is why we are now rolling up our sleeves and investing taxpayers' money in building student accommodation, not just leaving it to the market any more or to universities of their own volition.
The Minister and I can agree on that; of course we need to increase supply. That is the only real way we will solve the housing crisis that is impacting on so many different people. I take the Minister's point that he is working on this matter but the reality is that it is still costing people thousands of euro. That is not realistic. I know the Minister is interested in access to higher education or third level education no matter what avenue people want to take.
The other issue that has come up for me consistently is the regulation of digs. I am working on the issue and as soon as I have that work published, I will contact the Minister immediately. One of the things that stood out for me was young women telling me they cannot even lock their doors for privacy. As a young woman, and I know I am not as young as the women in question, I would not feel comfortable not being able to lock my bedroom door. There is also the issue of facilities, and not having access to them. Then there is the whole issue of there being no rent book, no access to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, and so on. I understand digs regulation needs to be workable but it is needed. I ask the Minister to support me on that.
I appreciate the Deputy's sincerity on this, and I will work with her on it. I have talked to the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, the UCD students' union and many students about this. As I said in our previous exchange, this is about getting this right. We need to make sure that every student and homeowner goes into this with their eyes wide open. If someone rents a room in a house, the homeowner does not have the right to open the door and check that the room is tidy. They are not the student's mother and the student has to be given notice. What we are doing as soon as today is publishing a draft licence agreement on websites in colleges that will show students and homeowners what should be best practice, and what people should sign up for. That is a first step.
I have an open mind on the issue of regulation. I do, truthfully, but I want to get it right. As with the Deputy, I do not want to end up reducing supply. We had approximately 2,500 rooms to rent on college websites as recently as last Friday. At a time when students are looking for accommodation, I want to make it easy. I know there are older people, some of whom I have heard them in the media, renting out a spare room in their homes. I know it is working quite well. I do not want to make it an overly burdensome issue and I know Deputy Farrell does not either. I am very happy to look at legislation with the Deputy but the draft licence agreement is a start and we are starting that now.
