Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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2. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the funding that will go to each university for the delivery of student accommodation beds; and the timeline for when construction will commence. [40346/24]

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I ask the Minister of State to outline the funding that will go to each university for the delivery of student accommodation beds. Will he provide a timeline for when construction will begin? We all understand that the price of accommodation at third level is an enormous issue for students and, in many cases, for their families. A considerable number of people will miss out on their educational journeys on that basis. This issue needs to be dealt with.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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Through budget 2025, we secured €6 million of annual recurrent funding to support the activation of up to 1,200 student accommodation beds in regional campus locations. A leasing programme is being developed as a key deliverable arising from the recent TU student accommodation study. At least 30% of the beds delivered through this programme will be provided at below market rate to a target cohort of students.

In addition, €1 million in annual funding has been secured to provide staffing resources in the sector to build a dedicated capacity for examining and addressing campus needs with regard to student accommodation and supports for students in accessing accommodation. A further €500,000 will be invested in developing campus action plans to identify and address accommodation and sustainable transport needs for the colleges and students in accessing their education. This builds on the investment of €100 million in State support for the first time to deliver student accommodation through the national development plan under our Department’s short-term activation programme. This funding enabled activation of the student accommodation project for UCD for the delivery of 493 beds. It is planned that construction will commence on this project in 2025, subject to successful completion of due diligence assessments and the tender process. The funding also enabled progression of projects at Maynooth University and DCU. I am pleased that the Maynooth project is currently at construction stage with expected delivery of 116 beds in September 2025. DCU’s project is progressing through the tender process and, subject to successful completion of this process, is expected on site in quarter 1 of 2025.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The provision of student accommodation has become incredibly bad in the time of this Government and the previous one. The Minister of State outlined that it is proposed to spend €100 million on student accommodation over three years. He also outlined some of the measures that have been delivered. He referred to the fact that 30% of what will be delivered will be provided at below the market rate. I am interested in hearing how that determination has been made.

The Minister of State gave a timeline for UCD, Maynooth and DCU. What else is in the pipeline? We all know there was a significant number of universities with a lot of land, some with planning permission for student accommodation, and what they needed was viable financial packages to be put in place. The accommodation is necessary. What is the timeline and what are the overall targets the Government hopes to deliver on?

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to refer to the student accommodation strategy. The long-term student accommodation policy was approved by the Government in January 2024. This policy will inform future student accommodation strategies and schemes that are being developed throughout 2024 and beyond. The dual-benefit policy aims to increase the supply of specific accommodation, therefore removing students from the private rental market and increasing housing availability for private individuals and families.

I wish to refer to the technological university, TU, feasibility study because, as the Deputy well knows, we have a number of new technological universities. We conducted a TU feasibility study with the aim of developing a programmatic approach to facilitate future TU student accommodation proposals. The demand analysis, which was an output of phase 1 of the study, will inform the framework for delivery models of funding options as part of the second phase of the study. Phase 2, which is to identify potential proposals for the technological university sector for the delivery of student accommodation, is currently under way.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State. I am well aware of the technological university sector. The Minister and I have spoken before about the fact that Dundalk Institute of Technology, DkIT, is not in that box at the moment, but we hope the relationship with Maynooth will be successfully concluded. Across the board, we must make sure that places like Dundalk and the other TUs will have the ability to provide necessary accommodation, and that money will be provided for that to be a sustainable option for TUs and universities.

We can talk about the difficulties that exist for students, some of whom cannot make it to college. I welcome any information the Minister of State can give, in particular on timelines and targets for both universities and TUs.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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The key to student accommodation is the same as it is for housing: to increase the supply. We must bring on more supply to address the demand. We also have an obligation to try to reduce costs. That is the reason we put a lot of work into the standard design for purpose-built student accommodation, which is similar to the school building programme, for example, whereby there is a standardised design that helps move projects forward more quickly. In that regard, we set up an expert multidisciplinary design team and appointed it to research and develop new design standards for State-supported purpose-built student accommodation. The successful consortium comprised Metropolitan Workshop, KPMG and ORS Consulting. The project will be key to establishing best practice and value for money for the State in ensuring the affordability of additional supply for students and delivering modern, purpose-built student accommodation facilities that are functional and sustainable.

I also briefly mention the existing rent-a-room scheme, where people who offer a room can avail of up to €14,000 tax free, which is a considerable tax concession.