Student Accommodation
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-12
============================================================

Marian Harkin (IND), Sligo-Leitrim

I cannot disagree with anything the Deputy has said but I reiterate that in February 2025 the Minister granted ATU Sligo permission to proceed with the acquisition of that 16.35 acre site at Ardaghowen in County Sligo. The approval did not convey or imply approval for any proposed capital investment that ATU might be considering for the lands. ATU was directed to fund the cost of the acquisition from within its existing reserves. ATU Sligo did not progress with this site purchase.
I know what the Deputy is saying about what the local authority is doing. As I said, it is my understanding that, as we speak, the local authority is in discussion with private providers to see if they could develop that site for student accommodation. Without being specific about it, right now that seems to be the best possible way forward.

---

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/2026-05-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-12