Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 January 2024
74. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he will provide an update on the delivery of student housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2286/24]
View answerLigfidh mé spás don Aire teacht aníos. Baineann an cheist atá agam le cúrsaí tithíochta do mhic léinn. My question relates to student housing. Will the Minister give an update on student housing? I am aware of the announcements this week. Will he provide further details on those announcements?
I thank the Deputy. I look forward to working with her and with colleagues in the House throughout the year. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to take this question on what is a really important issue right across the country. Student accommodation and student housing is not just an issue for students but also presents an opportunity, as we increase supply for students, to free up other accommodation for families, professionals and people coming to a city or region to rent or purchase. There is definitely a double benefit to increasing the supply of student accommodation.
As the Deputy will know, since November 2022, I have secured Government approval to start investing taxpayers' money in the building of student accommodation for the first time. We secured €61 million to unlock the development of up to 1,000 new and additional student accommodation beds across four universities. These universities had planning permissions but the projects were viewed as unviable. We have invested taxpayers' money to get them moving. These projects are being progressed as an immediate response to unlock the supply of accommodation.
I am please to inform the Deputy that projects at both Maynooth University and Dublin City University are at tender stage. These will deliver 521 beds. I expect those projects to go to construction this year. The remaining projects at the University of Limerick and the University of Galway are undergoing due diligence assessment in line with our public spending code and infrastructure guidelines. I expect progress on both projects shortly.
This week, I secured Government approval to progress a long-term student accommodation policy. This is an action under Housing for All. This policy aims to increase the supply of student accommodation and, crucially, to also reduce students' reliance on private rental accommodation so as to reduce the barrier that accommodation can present in accessing higher education. The long-term policy aims to narrow the gap between supply and demand and targets the development of public and purpose-built student accommodation and the refurbishment of vacant units. It will also progress and explore some of the issues we have discussed regarding the rent-a-room scheme and digs. The policy will also address the cost of construction through the development of standardised design templates for student accommodation, which could be extraordinarily helpful as regards the cost and speed of development. It will also look at the examination of transport links and viable commuting options, an issue student unions across the country are, quite rightly, bringing up.
To be perfectly honest, for most people, the announcement this week would have sounded like there was to be very substantial new investment in student accommodation. We sometimes need to look at how announcements and the media reporting around them are perceived and the hopes and concerns among students they can lead to. It is just not good enough for announcements to be made that can give people hope only for us not to deliver. If we look at what this three-point policy actually is, we will see that it will not mean any meaningful change. I do not see anything fundamentally different from what the Minister has told us about. He told us that his Department is going to start co-funding the construction of on-campus accommodation but, as he said, that has been under way since November 2022. He also told us that, in exchange for this funding, below-market rates will have to be provided for certain rooms. Again, that is part of the existing model. The likes of DCU are doing that. He further told us that use will be made of the rent-a-room scheme. This was first introduced in 2001. Will he tell us exactly what in this announcement is different from what has previously been announced?
Absolutely. Many things are different.
The Deputy constantly raises with me the need for a new student accommodation policy. The student accommodation policy in advance of this was wholly reliant on the private market. It was all about the private market building purpose-built student accommodation. This is turning that on its head. This is about recognising that the new policy under Housing for All is very much around funding universities and technological universities to build student accommodation and us, as a State, helping to bridge that viability gap.
We have already started projects, and I am pleased about that. We do not need to wait for formal policy to start projects. We have started projects and got them to tender in DCU and Maynooth University. We will have more to follow in Limerick and Galway. We are talking to UCD, Trinity College and DCU about more they can do. That was about the immediate, however. It was about taking projects that already had planning permission. We will now be working with every university in the country, including the technological universities, to get their plans in. We have surveyed 22,801 students who are renting or involved in student accommodation today to ask them their views on what they want to see. We are working on a standardised design template. We will have standardised design applications out to all universities and will be bringing back in projects. There is a significant focus on being less reliant on the private market. In addition, as recently as 17 days ago we extended the renters' tax credit, which makes a real difference to families in reducing the cost of student accommodation.
This is about teasing it out and trying to understand. I was previously Sinn Féin spokesperson on public expenditure and reform. I have never seen a Department that does as many announcements as the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. I welcome announcements if they mean there will be progress for students and things will be better for them. When that is the case, I am totally on board. When it is announcements that do not seem to be making much of a difference in students' lives, however, it is a different matter. If this announcement will mean progress for students, all the better and more power to the Minister.
As regards technological universities, will this allow for TUs or is it simply getting in data to see what they could build? What is the difference from the rent-a-room scheme? Does it relate to other universities being able to build? Does it relate specifically to the standardised design, which is welcome?
The reality is that announcements give people hope. At present, students are deciding which colleges to select on their CAO form based on whether they can afford to go to a college away from home. That comes down specifically to the issue of housing. We have seen the increase in the number of deferrals as a result of the housing crisis. I am concerned at the high number of announcements and their impact going forward. This Department makes a lot of announcements. Many of them are re-announcements. If there are announcements that help people, I will back them 100% and am happy to support them.
To be clear, when we take policy decisions, we announce them and tell people about them. It is a good and important thing that we tell our stakeholders and bosses, namely, the people of Ireland what the Government has decided. Let us be clear. The Government decided this week, on my recommendation, to adopt a new approach to student accommodation. The Government has decided that we will use taxpayers' hard-earned money to help to build student accommodation. In terms of hope, that will mean 521 more beds going to construction this year at DCU and Maynooth University. It will mean enabling me to advance and bring to conclusion conversations with UCD, Trinity, DCU, UL and NUI Galway about more they can do. That is hope. It is extra accommodation and beds that can be delivered in projects that have planning permission.
The Deputy asked a fair question about the technological universities. The next phase is not about gathering data. We have done that through 22,801 students. All the universities have engaged in the process. The next bit is about asking them to send forward their proposals to inform my engagement with the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform on the capital review. I would like to see those proposals back by the end of this quarter.
When will they be able to borrow?
I will come back in on that question.
The Minister can respond while replying to my next question.
