Rose Conway-Walsh: Demands End to Student Accommodation Conversions
Rose Conway-Walsh criticised the conversion of purpose-built student accommodation into tourist accommodation and condemned exemptions granted to developers and large landlords. She urged increased funding, public ownership and affordability measures, and pledged support for the Union of Students in Ireland's No Keys, No Degrees campaign.
Main criticism
Rose Conway-Walsh said exemptions for developers are the hallmark of successive government housing approaches and that these exemptions have allowed large-scale landlords to remove hundreds, if not thousands, of student beds from the system.
Examples cited
She highlighted cases where purpose-built student accommodation was granted planning permission to convert to tourist accommodation on the claim that there was insufficient demand, while thousands of students still lack fit-for-purpose, affordable housing and some are forced into hotels and hostels.
Affordability and public ownership demands
The speaker called for a new student accommodation strategy centred on affordability and public ownership, arguing that profit margins for developers and institutional landlords should not be protected at the expense of students.
Funding and on-campus housing
She urged increased recurrent and capital funding for institutes of higher education so colleges can build on-campus accommodation and strike a fair balance between attracting international students and meeting the needs of Irish students.
Support for student campaign and appeal to the minister
Rose Conway-Walsh said she and Sinn Féin will support the Union of Students in Ireland's No Keys, No Degrees campaign to highlight the crisis, and made a direct plea to the minister to take immediate action rather than maintain a hands-off approach.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
I like to thank you for not opposing this bill, Minister, and I commend my colleague, Ono Bryn, for bringing it forward. Exemptions for developers is the hallmark of successive government approach to housing. We've seen it when it comes to delays in banning co-living and stamp duty exemption for long-term leases and apartments, but most recently we have seen purpose-built student accommodation being given planning permission to convert into tourist accommodation in the midst of a student housing crisis. Large student accommodation complexes have been given permission to operate as tourist accommodation on the bogus claim that there's not enough demand for it, and yet we see thousands of students all over this country cannot get fit-for-purpose affordable accommodation. The reality is that most students cannot afford to live in the high-end purpose-built student accommodation, and these landlords are unwilling to lower the rent. Exemptions for developers and large-scale landlords that have led to the situation where they've been allowed to take hundreds, if not thousands, of student beds out of the system is completely wrong. It seems to be beyond Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to even imagine a situation where a landlord or developer should lower the rent if they can get tenants at the extortionate rates that they are charging. Now we have students staying in hotels and hostels and student accommodation that's not fit-for-purpose. Also, the profit margins of developers and institutional landlords could be protected. We need a new strategy for student accommodation that has affordability and public ownership at its heart, and we need to increase the recurrent and capital funding for institutes of higher education to allow them to build on-campus accommodation. And we need to end the conversion of purpose-built student accommodation to tourist accommodation and encourage colleges to strike a fair balance between attracting international students and meeting the needs of Irish students. And that is why I and Sinn Féin will be supporting the Union of Students in Ireland this Thursday when they launch their No Keys, No Degrees campaign to draw attention to the current student accommodation crisis that has left thousands of students across Ireland struggling to secure accommodation. Minister, this government is completely out of touch with students and families when it comes to accommodation, to the wider society when it comes to accommodation as well, but for students and hard-pressed families. And I would ask you to please take action now. We cannot have a hands-off approach to this. Please, Stanley.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
