Survival of the fastest in annual student housing hunt

YOU are waiting at the top of the stairs behind a dozen people hoping to view a basement flat with little hope of inspecting the property, let alone becoming its future tenant.

Suddenly, a passerby recognises you at the back of the queue and offers you a spare room in their house.

Too good to be true? Sadly, for the vast majority of students in Ireland, the reality of finding accommodation is radically different from the experience of Alison in the popular RTÉ series, Bachelor's Walk.