Student Accommodation Dail Éireann — 2024-02-27 ============================================================ Mairéad Farrell (SF), Galway West Yes, but we also need to be frank here. Because of the over-reliance on the private sector, specifically now on vulture funds for providing purpose-built student accommodation, we are in this crisis. Of course I want to see purpose-built student accommodation by universities at an affordable rate. I have a few concerns. It does not seem to me there will be a move towards TUs being able to borrow. It will be an issue of public-private partnerships. That has not worked in the past. I am concerned about that. I am also concerned about the vacant property refurbishment grant bearing fruit until I see it in action. Parents are paying €14,000 for rent and that is having an impact on people being able to access third level education. I hear what the Minister is saying but until I see action I am deeply concerned. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-02-27/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:43+00:00 Sitting date: 2024-02-27