“University College Cork (UCC) Students’ Union has confirmed that an agreement has been reached to issue students who wish to return home from their rented accommodation with a refund. Following a meeting with UCC Campus Accommodation, the union posted the update on social media …” (more)
[Breda Graham, EchoLive, 18 October]
“A spokesperson for Cut the Rent TCD, speaking to Trinity News, has confirmed that the activist group will ‘not be able to’ organize a rent strike for the upcoming year. The campaign group was set up last September with an aim to fight the rising costs of student accommodation in Dublin …” (more)
[Shannon Connolly, Trinity News, 18 October]
“Students will pay on average €680 more to rent a room in Dublin for the forthcoming academic year and €462 more in other parts of the country than they did last year …” (more)
[Brian Finn, RTÉ News, 14 September]
“Colleges have lowered the cost of campus accommodation for the first time in decades with students due to spend less time there, the Irish Independent can reveal …” (more)
[Gabija Gataveckaite, Independent, 14 September]
“Students should be refunded for accommodation if another Covid-19 lockdown forces the closure of colleges, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has said …” (more)
[Dominic McGrath, TheJournal.ie, 31 August]
“Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures she will introduce to provide protections for third level students in circumstances in which many are expected to pay accommodation deposits and a number of months’ rent up front when it is not clear whether they will be attending their colleges for classes in the coming term; if she will ensure that legislative protections are introduced to ensure that those providing student accommodation cannot take advantage of students in view of the current circumstances; if her attention has been drawn to the large demands being placed on students for payments up front despite the fact that many received no refunds for last term; and if she will make a statement on the matter …” (more)
[Dáil written answers, 21 July]
“The father of a Limerick student has described as ‘morally wrong’ the refusal of a student village to refund rent which was paid for accommodation that his son had to subsequently leave due to the Covid-19 pandemic …” (more)
[Aine Fitzgerald, Limerick Leader, 19 July]
“While Ireland’s big universities have mounted something of a minor resurgence in the global rankings this year, the last decade has generally seen them take a clanging and clattering descent down the ladder of international academic prestige …” (more)
[Independent, 17 July]
“Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent): To ask the Minister for Finance if third-level student accommodation providers that have refused to refund accommodation costs to students forced to leave college due to the Covid-19 pandemic will not receive State Covid-19 supports; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)
[Dáil debates, 16 July]
“Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the options open to third-level students whose private landlords refused to provide rent refunds to students forced to leave accommodation due to Covid-19; his plans to encourage landlords to provide refunds; and if she will make a statement on the matter …” (more)
[Dáil written answers, 14 July]
“Planned rent increases remain on the cards at University College Cork (UCC), with students continuing to ask the university to consider reversing its stance on the matter. In February, students pitched tents on the UCC quad and vowed to stay put until the university backed down on the planned 3% hike in campus accommodation rates …” (more)
[Jess Casey, Irish Examiner, 25 June]
“UCC are planning a 3% rent increase. UCC owns and operates five centres and 1,300 student beds and announced the plan in February …” (more)
[Red FM, 22 June]
“When it comes to managing its accommodation, it seems Trinity simply cannot stop getting itself into trouble. Dozens of students who left Kavanagh Court in a hurry in March – when Trinity erroneously told them they had to leave, before a startling volte-face the following day – have been offered rent refunds that don’t cover the full period of time that they spent out of the complex …” (more)
[University Times, 14 June]
“Former student residents of Kavanagh Court are furious with the complex’s management – and with Trinity – after they were offered only a partial rent refund despite being ‘basically left with no option’ but to leave their accommodation in March when the pandemic hit …” (more)
[Emer Moreau, University Times, 14 June]
“Sinn Féin TD for Limerick City Maurice Quinlivan has said that today’s news that students at UL will be granted refunds for vacating student accommodation early due to COVID 19 is very welcome. UL have finally done the right thing. Speaking today in Limerick, Teachta Quinlivan said …” (more)
[Sinn Féin, 29 May]
“Students who vacated on-campus accommodation at the University of Limerick when the Covid-19 pandemic hit are to receive more than €3.4 million in rent refunds. In a statement on Friday the university said Plassey Campus Centre (PCC) Ltd, the company which manages its on-campus accommodation, ‘has approved the return of rental income to the students who left their accommodation on foot of the government’s decision to close the university campus in March’ …” (more)
[Kitty Holland, Irish Times, 29 May]
“Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider introducing a means-tested intervention to assist student accommodation providers that may not be able to reimburse students for the time they will not be using student accommodation due to Covid-19 restrictions which would allow students to end their tenancy early without financial penalty; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)
[Dáil written answers, 27 May]
“Students at Dublin City University have been offered flexible accommodation for the upcoming academic year as it is ‘highly unlikely’ they will be on campus for full weeks. With the university planning a mix of face-to-face lab classes, practical sessions and online lectures in the coming academic year, not all students will be on campus at the same time …” (more)
[Jess Casey, Irish Examiner, 29 May]
“Students of the University of Limerick who left their accommodation on foot of the government’s decision to close the university campus in March due to Covid-19 are to be refunded their rent, it has been confirmed …” (more)
[Aine Fitzgerald, Limerick Leader, 29 May]
“Ireland’s national students’ union will back students working to set up tenants’ unions calling for a ban on evictions in the wake of the coronavirus, in a show of support for a radical approach to student rent amid the pandemic …” (more)
[Ciaran Molloy, University Times, 27 May]
