Light at the end of the tunnel for student accommodation crisis

A new policy on student accommodation will allow the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) to build its own units rather than relying on the private sector.

According to Minister For Further Education Simon Harris, this will alleviate the student accommodation crisis and reduce reliance on the private sector.

Minister Harris was in Donegal on Monday to visit ATU campuses in Killybegs and Letterkenny. 

He spoke to Donegal Live about his plans to increase the availability of student accommodation.  

“As recently as last Tuesday the government agreed to my new policy on student accommodation,” he said.

“We launched it on Friday and what that basically means is for the first time ever we will be writing to the technological universities, inviting them to bring forward their proposals for student accommodation. 

“So up until now, our own institutes of technology as they were then known, and technological universities as they are now, couldn't pay for student accommodation. So we've changed that policy now.”

This is good news not only for those coming to study in Donegal, but for students from the county, many of whom require accommodation in order to study in Sligo, Letterkenny and Killybegs.

Minister Harris says that this month, he will be in contact with all technological universities, including ATU.

“We will be asking them to send forward their plans on what they can do on student accommodation by March,” said the minister.

He stressed that this was the beginning of a long term programme that would inevitably require time to bear fruit.

“Now, I've got to be truthful here, we don't have projects with planning permission,” he said. “But I still think it is absolutely key if we want to break the cycle. 

“We're too reliant on the private market.”

Minister Harris said he also wanted to get the message out that there was tax relief available for parents paying for student accommodation for their young people.

“I think this is a help to parents in Donegal and everywhere else,” he said. “We have made one change around the renters tax credit. And I just think it's worth letting people know that since this month if you're a mum or a dad paying for your child's accommodation while they're in college, whether that's college accommodation, private accommodation, digs, you can now claim the renters tax credit which is worth €750.

“I want to make sure parents know that because that can obviously go a bit of a way towards helping people with the cost.

“But my message today in terms of ATU is that we now have a university in the region. This is a potential game changer. 

“And alongside that now needs to go student accommodation, college-owned student accommodation.”