Róisín Shortall
Ceist:473 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science further to Parliamentary Question No. 1120 of 26 January 2005 (details supplied), the location in the guidelines for the scheme of a requirement on third level institutions to assess the extent of demand based on student numbers, the need for rented accommodation, existing supply issues and related factors; the reason there are no guidelines setting out the criteria for carrying out such assessment if it was intended that third level institutions be required to assess the supply and demand, which presumably would also deal with adequacy, standard and price of existing and proposed accommodation in the catchment area; the way in which she has ensured that a consistent, fair and transparent approach has been adopted by all third level institutions in the assessment, particularly those which have a commercial interest as accommodation providers in the market in view of the fact that there are no guidelines setting out the assessment criteria; the stage at which a third level institution should decide to intervene in the market and control the amount of competition in view of the fact that the market, based on price and quality, normally regulates the balance between supply and demand and encourages healthy competition, which is in the interests of students; her views on the obvious conflict of interest that exists when a third level institution is both a provider and regulator; the way in which the implementation of this scheme is being monitored in order to ensure it is achieving its objectives in all areas as similar tax incentive schemes are very transparently monitored by the local authorities; and if that all current proposals will be certified by third level institutions pending revised guidelines being drafted and proper need assessments being undertaken in view of the obvious serious deficiencies in the existing guidelines. [3481/05]
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