Student Accommodation
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-12
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Eoghan Kenny (LAB), Cork North-Central

I appreciate that there have been developments in student accommodation. However, Cork, as a county with a huge university city, has the lowest proportion of public student accommodation beds available at 18%.
In February 2026, a report by Sherry FitzGerald showed that the State needs at least 38,900 beds to keep up with the demand. The report says that for every 13 students across the south-west region, which is inclusive of Cork and Kerry, there are ten beds, and that with roughly 30,300 students enrolled, there is a shortfall of approximately 9,900 beds. This report assumed that those living in their own counties do not avail of accommodation. We are taking that assumption that people from towns such as my own, Mallow, do not move up to Cork city, if they are attending UCC or the Munster Technological University, MTU, or any other further or higher education facility.
The significant shortfall is there. It is probably due to a lack of forward planning for many decades, within the former Department of Education more so that the newly formed Department of further and higher education. I understand that there has been progress but significant progress has to be made in Cork.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-12