Students set up home outside Government offices in rent protest

STUDENTS are to build and sleep in a makeshift house in front of Government offices from today to highlight the crisis facing students seeking affordable accommodation.

Rents in Dublin have jumped by 79% in the last three years, according to the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), quoting from figures produced by the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute. But grant increases have barely kept in line with inflation.

The USI said the week long demonstration outside the Custom House offices of the Department of the Environment and Local Government is to highlight the fact that spiralling rents are now common in every town and city with a third level institution.