Student Accommodation and Supports: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-26 ============================================================ Mike Kennelly (FG), Labour Panel I welcome the Minister to the House. I thank him and his Department and acknowledge the work they do. For the past 18 months it has probably been one of the best-run Departments, due to many factors, so I want to put that on the record. Many of the commitments that were made during the programme for Government, which include reducing the cost of education, improving access and building a strong and modern third level system, are under way in all Departments. During the past year, real progress has been made. We have delivered a permanent cut to student fees, which I have been raising, which helps families across the country. We have also strengthened the technological university sector and created 55 new professorships across the country to support teaching and research. The Minister mentioned the first permanent reduction in costs since 1995. That improvement and delivery has to be acknowledged. This Government must stand over its commitment to continue to lower student contribution costs in order to reduce the financial pressure on students and families permanently. It must be an ongoing priority. I ask the Government to honour that commitment, in full, during the term of this Government. The Department has secured €4.5 billion in funding under the national development plan. Only recently we have unlocked, through the national training fund, NTF, a surplus allowing it to be used to support skills and training across the whole sector. One of the things that was said here was to "spend wisely" because we are looking for accountability across all Departments at a time where there has been wastage on some public projects in other Departments. Keep an eye on the spend and the wastage will no longer exist. Student accommodation is now a key part of our education system. Without affordable and secure housing, many students cannot take up their places or fully take part in college life. Student numbers are rising, so we must really plan ahead. Last month, the Minister published a student accommodation strategy, as has just been mentioned. Under the previous strategy, 16,000 beds were delivered. Demand is growing, as we can see. We now need around 42,000 more beds, as the Minister said. One of the issues we have, as I think the Minister mentioned, is that there are 3,000 beds currently under construction. With the 300,000 target this Government faces in housing construction until 2030 - and given the need for the 14,000 beds that have planning permission, including the 3,000 that have started - my fear going forward is whether the Government will meet its targets. Perhaps the Minister can clarify that for me. The next page is about apprenticeships and all of that. My fear is that we are really kicking the can down the road in that we need apprenticeships to be rolled out a bit faster. Some of the apprenticeships take four years and an electrical apprenticeship could be reduced to three or maybe three and a half years. Will the skilled workforce that is coming out now deliver 300,000 houses, and 42,000 beds by 2035 as well? The new higher education institution student accommodation programme will allow universities to work with private developers through nomination agreements and the use of HEI-owned sites. This will help to deliver accommodation at scale using standard designs and through better use of lands to reduce costs. We are also supporting flexible options such as the rent-a-room scheme, but increasing supply is not enough and affordability is a serious matter. Almost 30,000 students will benefit from the €200 increase to the non-adjacent SUSI grant announced in budget 2026. In total, financial supports for students now amount to €176 million each year, alongside the rent tax credit of up to €2,000 for jointly assessed couples. This is a game changer for many people, it has to be welcomed and I thank the Minister for that. The implementation of the strategy is also under way and a programme board has been set up, including the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, and the HEA, and representatives from both university sectors. Work with NewERA and the Department of public expenditure is ongoing to resolve issues with technological universities' nomination agreements. To move on to the committee's report on apprenticeships, it was a proud effort from the committee of which I am a member. There were 48 recommendations in that report. The one thing about reports is that everyone welcomes them and there is a ticker-tape parade for most of them but unfortunately some of the reports lie on top of shelves and stuff like that. Will all 48 recommendations be seriously looked at? The next time the Minister comes back into the House for statements, which recommendations will be picked? There are a lot of brilliant recommendations in the report on foot of our time as a committee meeting apprentices across the country and across different areas to discuss what apprenticeships bring. Apprenticeships do and will play a bigger role in meeting Ireland's skills needs, especially as we build more homes, expand infrastructure and respond to climate challenges. Artificial intelligence, AI, is also exploding. As we speak, the need to prepare and adjust our college courses to ensure readiness must be a priority. The big question is whether we are ready for this. According to recent reports, AI will cost this country jobs in the future, so how we roll out preparations in our education sector to counteract that requires a big plan ahead. The previous action plan delivered strong results. By the end of 2025, the apprentice population reached 31,165. That was an increase of almost 60% since 2010. Annual registration rose by 9,461 and funding has increased by 125% since 2020. This year, more than €410 million will be invested in the apprenticeship system. I hope there will be an awareness of the attractiveness of apprenticeships, as I mentioned in our report recommendations, to be driven by guidance counsellor reform in our schools. This gives us a strong base to reach the programme for Government target of 12,500 new registrations per year. Everything is target-driven now. There are now 81 national apprenticeship programmes available, as well as 25 craft apprenticeships in traditional SOLAS trades and 56 consortia-led apprenticeships. The next action plan must focus on sustainable growth and strong supports for both apprentices and employers. I ask the Minister that the work done in the committee in drawing up the recommendations for apprenticeships will be taken into full consideration. On the adult educator contracts, I recognise the important work of tutors and adult educators in the further education and training sector. Their commitment and skill make a real difference to learners across the country. Our committee heard concerns from the Adult Education Teachers Organisation. While an approved education and teaching organisation, the AETO is not a recognised trade union. Many of its members were represented by the TUI and SIPTU during negotiations on the new adult educator grade. These people were before us in committee as well. I ask the Minister if their issues will be discussed. I ask for clarity and acknowledgement and better pay and conditions for these people. Across student accommodation, apprenticeships, adult education and research, we are delivering on the commitments set out in the programme for Government and permanently reducing costs for students. The Opposition might not pat the Minister on the back for that, but I will. There is more to come. --- 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/seanad/2026-05-26/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:59+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-26