Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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9. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 73 of 25 June 2024, for an update on plans to provide additional student accommodation units for students at the University of Galway; the status and location of the additional 403, work under way, and 1,669, planning obtained, purpose-built student accommodation bed spaces in Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40035/24]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am returning to this question again. A number of previous speakers have raised it. I am asking for an update on plans to provide additional student accommodation units for students in Galway; the status and location of the additional 403 and 1,669 planned purpose-built student accommodation spaces. I have read the answers and listened to the responses. I would love to tease this out. What progress is being made on the provision of State-owned, university-owned accommodation for students?

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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We are developing a new student accommodation strategy to identify accommodation needs and responses in campus locations, in line with the long-term student accommodation policy adopted earlier this year. The strategy will encompass all demand. However, there is a key emphasis on providing State support for the most disadvantaged students who cannot participate in the market and who require and receive assistance to attend higher education. The strategy will include measures to increase the supply of State-supported student accommodation, reduce the cost of delivery through standardised design guidance and promote efficient use of existing building stock through refurbishment and examination of vacancy. These measures will support balanced regional development through the technological university feasibility study, and the promotion of sustainable transport links and digs accommodation.

The allocation of €6 million in annual funding in budget 2025 will support the activation of up to 1,200 student accommodation beds in regional locations. This leasing programme is being developed as a key deliverable from the TU feasibility study informed by the existing planning pipeline. The long-term student accommodation policy has also identified digs accommodation as an additional source of student accommodation. As of 30 September, there are 462 beds available through digs accommodation in Galway.

The initial accommodation proposal received from the University of Galway under the short-term activation initiative was withdrawn by the vendor, and this was notified to the HEA by the university.

My Department does not hold details on proposed or ongoing private purpose-built student accommodation developments other than what is available to the public via the planning system. The most recent building information data supplied, which is from August 2024, indicates that work is under way on site on an additional 403 bed spaces and that planning permission has been obtained for a further 1,669 beds in the Galway city area.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Now that we have dispensed with that response, could we just tease out really where we are going in terms of student accommodation in this country? Are we going to learn from what we did with housing and HAP, which was an absolute disaster, and where we have put in literally millions and billions of euro to keep the market price of homes very high? We have done the same as regards students. I am sure Deputy Collins has an opinion as a Minister of State. I come from a city with two universities and four hospitals. I am proud to be a Galwegian and I am proud of what we have there, but we have a major housing crisis, partly contributed to by the failure of the two universities to provide campus accommodation. Can we learn at this point where we are? When will the strategy be published? It was due last July. Is there a change?

The other thing from ATU in Galway, which the Minister of State mentioned earlier, is that it wants the ability to borrow. It has been deprived of that. It has been discriminated against compared with the more established universities. He said a decision has not been made. When will it be made? Most importantly, to tease this out, the obvious answer is to provide accommodation that is State-owned so we can give it out at affordable rents to students.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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From 2017 to the end of August 2024, 15,222 purpose-built student beds were built, bringing the total stock of student beds to in excess of 48,000. Since 2020, 9,241 student beds have been completed, with 7,046 of those beds in the private market and 2,195 beds provided by the higher education institutions.

Of the 2,195 public beds provided by the higher education institutions, 1,021 publicly funded beds became available in 2023, 674 of which were in the University of Galway, 255 in UCC, nine in Trinity College Dublin, 80 in the University of Limerick and three in Mary Immaculate College.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I welcome the fact there were 2,195 public beds. Where, however, is the vision for this area in terms of State-owned student accommodation in order that we can bring the prices down? A market is once again being created for the vulture funds and anyone with money who can then do what they want during the summer, although we have tried to curtail that lately with limits on time. I come from a city where the HAP scheme and all the private schemes have led to a disaster. The housing crisis in Galway is worse than Dublin. There is absolutely no hope. At one time, we could go up with someone every six months and tell him or her that eventually he or she would get a local authority or public house. That is gone. We have emails and what seems like choice-based letting whereby everyone gets a computer and looks for a house knowing that only one person can get it out of thousands of people. We are doing the exact same thing all over again with student accommodation.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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Previous speakers have raised this issue and we have discussed student accommodation. We have a long-term student accommodation policy, which was approved by the Government in 2024.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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When is the strategy going to be published consequent on that plan?

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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That policy will inform student accommodation strategies and schemes which are being developed throughout 2024. We also have conducted a feasibility study across the technological university sector, as the Deputy will know. That was basically an exercise in which we collaborated through the umbrella group for the technological universities. We asked them to identify their requirements and demands in their locations based on the future strategies of each technological university, based on the demographics and on the forecasting of students in each area. We are also, as I have outlined to the Deputy and previous speakers, conducting an exercise to make a standardised design to achieve value for money. There is a lot going on with that. Suffice it to say that we have a dedicated unit within the Department of further and higher education that is working in the whole space of student accommodation in conjunction with the technological universities and higher education institutions.