'Slap in the face'- Small fraction of emergency student beds available this September

116 of the planned 1,016 emergency response student beds will be delivered in September, an Oireachtas committee has heard on Tuesday last.

This comes quickly after Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless said that third level students will have to pay €1,000 extra in fees this September.

Spokesperson on Further and Higher Education, Donna McGettigan TD, has said it is another scandalous slap in the face for students.

Teachta McGettigan said: “€100 million was allocated to deliver 1,016 student beds for Maynooth University, DCU and UCD, as an emergency response to the chronic shortage of student accommodation.  It has now been revealed that construction has not even begun on the beds for DCU and UCD.

“From the government’s shameful move to hike up student fees by €1,000, despite the fact that the cost-of-living crisis continues to spiral out of control.  To their outrageous decision to throw student renters to the wolves, removing rent protections for student renters allowing landlords to hike up rents every time a student moves into a new rental property. 

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“The first seven months of this government have been marked by decisions that have completely betrayed our students and our younger generations.

“It is clear that this government remains completely out of touch with the financial pressures that students and their families are under and oblivious to the brutal reality that their decisions are forcing more and more of our young people out of the country.

“Our younger people deserve so much better.  The financial pressure that students and their families are facing is very real, and while Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael may be pretending that the cost-of-living crisis is over, ordinary workers and families know that it most certainly is not."