New policies for a more aggressive approach to tackling dereliction in Cork city have been agreed as work finally starts on a 255-bed student apartment complex on a long-term derelict site.

Students say they are facing a growing accommodation crisis, with every college in the country increasing the cost of their on-campus living for the new academic term.

A jury at the inquest into the death of a Cork student who went missing before being found in a river near student accommodation has recommended that University College Cork carry out a safety review of the grounds of the site.

THE SMA seminary at Victoria Cross on the Western Road in Cork was one of the first apartment schemes in an area which now has a fair share of student developments.