Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 April 2026
271. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the efforts being made to address the chronic shortage of accommodation for students in Limerick. [29047/26]
View answerThe new National Student Accommodation Strategy 2026-2035 sets out a pathway to make higher education more accessible by addressing two critical challenges, accommodation supply and viability and accommodation affordability.
To address supply and viability the strategy sets out a balanced approach including: -
• A commitment to long term State-backed measures to activate supply, working in partnership with the private sector.
• Support for the development of accommodation on public campuses as well as on private sites near to campus, subject to State Aid clearance.
• The development of a framework, in line with relevant Departmental consents, to support Technological Universities to develop nomination agreements with the private sector.
• The expansion of the Technological Sector Student Accommodation Programme to include traditional universities enabling the sector as a whole to meet demand; and
• The enhanced supply of student beds through promotion of Rent-a-Room accommodation.
We have already engaged extensively with the Technological Sector where multiple proposals have been developed and these will be brought forward on a phased basis this year.
The homeowner room-rental campaign ran again in advance of academic year 2025/26. As of March 2026, over 4,800 rent a room beds were advertised nationwide, with 562 of rent a room beds being advertised in Limerick.
The University of Limerick provides 2,934 purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) beds on-campus, while Mary Immaculate College offers 146 beds.
