Minister Simon Harris was speaking at the Cork College of Further Education and Training campus in Bishopstown this afternoon for the launch of ambitious plans to upgrade the campus.
The Minister says the government funds for building university owned student accommodation will run into the millions and will start with Third Level Institutes who already have active planning permission for student developments.
It’s also planned that the Department of Further and Higher Education will be engaging with Technical Institutes and Technical Universities, who have until up to recently not been able to access the same funding framework as universities, to see how they can bring new student accommodation on stream.
The minister says the multi-million euro plans will be brought to cabinet in the coming days.
Speaking to RedFM News, Minister Simon Harris says the cost of accommodation is one of the biggest challenges for students:
"We for the first time would financially support universities build student accommodation. I think this is key. It provides the student with more affordable college owned accommodation, but it also frees up homes that a student might be trying to rent that maybe a family could also be competing for in the rental market. I don't want us to ever find yourselves as reliant on the private market again and that's why I think it's very attractive, sustainable and sensible to try and get our colleges building. The TU's is a longer process because they have to come up with their plans and seek their planning permission, but we'll be talking to them.- we have been talking to them- and we'll be talking to them about how they can make real progress early in 2023 on that."
