OVER 1,000 STUDENT accommodation beds are to be developed at three universities.
The Government has announced that it is providing €100 million in funding to create 493 new beds at University College Dublin (UCD), 405 new beds at Dublin City University (DCU) and 116 new beds at Maynooth University.
Of those new beds, 30% will be made available for students who receive the SUSI grant or are in National Access Plan priority groupings, at a discounted rate of rent.
Taoiseach Simon Harris made the announcement this afternoon, alongside Higher Education Minister Patrick O’Donovan, Minister of State for Further Education Niall Collins and Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure Ossian Smyth.
Speaking to reporters, Harris said that construction will begin on the accommodation at DCU and Maynooth University this year. The beds at UCD have planning permission and will now need to go to tender, meaning construction will start early next year.
“Firstly we hadn’t been directly investing as a State in building purpose-built student accommodation, college-owned accommodation, ever, and as a result of that, we had been overly reliant on the private market,” Harris said.
“But secondly, we also had a scenario where students are having to compete with families and young professionals and others trying to maybe rent homes.”
O’Donovan said his Department is “delighted” with the funding.
“Obviously, we’ll be hoping, as we now go into the Summer Economic Statement and the Budget and beyond, looking at capital investment for our third level and university sector, that this will be something that we will be able to continue to work on.”
When asked if the announcement will mean that beds are cheaper for students, the Taoiseach said: “Any funding that we invest in student accommodation, there’s a quid pro quo that the proportion of money that the State puts in must result in at least the same portion of beds being ring-fenced at below market rate.”
He also pointed to the Government’s measure to reduce college fees and to allow third-level students and their parents to qualify for the renters tax credit as ways in which costs for students have been reduced.
The Government had been using student accommodation across the country outside of term time to accommodate Ukrainian refugees and international protection applicants after it ran out of State-provided shelter.
When asked if this would continue, Harris acknowledged the role it had played as a “pressure relief valve” to alleviate the accommodation crisis outside of term time, and said he hoped it would continue to do this outside term time.
“Within term time, I’m very clear that accommodation should be used for the purpose for which it was built and often there’s planning stipulations related to that too,” he said.
He welcomed a proposal by Equality Minister Roderic O’Gorman that talks about “moving away from” using accommodation meant for students.
He also pointed to the figures around the number of Ukrainians in Ireland seeking State accommodation.
“These are averages, but on average, about 15 Ukrainians a day seek State accommodation, and on average, about 45 Ukrainians a day leave State accommodation,” he said.
“That very much shows you that week-on-week, the number of Ukrainians relying on assistance from the State for accommodation is falling, and falling quite significantly.”
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