Cork 'lagging behind' other Irish cities in providing public student accommodation 

Oireachtas committee on further and higher education raised issue with minister James Lawless

Minister for further and higher education James Lawless said there will be a private development proceeding on the Bandon Road, which will see 500 beds coming on stream shortly. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

There have been calls to examine why Cork is “lagging behind” other Irish cities when it comes to publicly-owned student accommodation.

The Oireachtas committee on further and higher education met on Wednesday to hear from Minister James Lawless on his priorities for the department.

The majority of student accommodation in Cork is not owned by the colleges, the meeting heard. 

Labour senator Laura Harmon said she recently met with University College Cork's (UCC) student union, which has raised concerns over the lack of purpose-built student accommodation in Cork that's owned by its third level institutions.

“Only 18% is publicly owned in Cork, compared to 44% in Dublin, 36% in Galway, 56% in Limerick,” she said.

These figures are “concerning” she said, flagging that they were last collected in 2023 so this may have changed since.

Labour TD Eoin Kenny also raised the issue with the minister.

Can the department outline why there is such a percentage difference in purpose-built accommodation from Cork to other major cities like Limerick and Dublin?

“Has it been poor planning over a course of a number of years, or is it just a case of that we're finding it difficult to find suitable locations to build purpose built accommodation?

“It would be quite interesting to know why Cork is lagging behind in terms of the amount of purpose built accommodation for students that we have.”

Mr Lawless said there will be a private development proceeding on the Bandon Road, which will see 500 beds coming on stream shortly. There are also proposals due to come through from Munster Technological University (MTU), he added. 

UCC was also included in consultation about short term activation with his department, he added. "At that point in time, they weren't ready to take up the offer." 

A new student accommodation strategy is due to be published,  he confirmed. "Certainly by the end of the year, but I would hope by the end of the summer", he added.  

"Its very much something I'm mindful of and very keen to progress myself so I very much intend to bring that through quickly."