Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has asked his department to look at an issue where the length of some student leases is being increased.
The Irish Times reported that a large private student landlord is increasing lease lengths by around 10 weeks.
Although acknowledging that many medical students and postgraduate students would like to avail of longer leases, Mr Harris said “that’s not the bulk of students”.
He added: “The overwhelming majority of students are undergraduate students, and I think this is a divergence from a clear policy intent that I don’t welcome.
“When people apply for student accommodation it’s a specific category within our planning system and I think there’s always been a very clear understanding of what that meant.
“And it also means that property becomes available for the summer months, perhaps for students who come to Dublin or other cities to do short courses over the summer months, so I don’t welcome it.
“There does need to be a diversity of supply, I do get that. It’s not within my direct remit because it is a private developer but I suppose I’d make two points: student accommodation is covered by the RTB (Residential Tenancies Board) and is covered by planning.
“With that in mind, I’ve asked my officials to engage both with the Department of Housing and with the Residential Tenancies Board.
“But secondly, it emboldens me further about the need to move away from the over-reliance on the private market in relation to student accommodation, because when you do, you can see some of these consequences.
“And that’s why we have, as recently as last Friday, announced a very ambitious new policy around student housing that sees the taxpayer get directly involved.”
Mr Harris also said that the biggest challenge Ireland has with an increase in migration “is around accommodation”.
He said: “Because we’ve gone from a situation of living in a country where there’s been relatively small numbers of people coming in, (to) an increase – not out of line with Europe – but we have seen an increase, and that does pose a challenge.
“It can also pose a great opportunity for the richness of diversity in our country, for the skills needs of our economy, for rural towns, which were wondering in the past ‘Could I populate a school classroom?’ ‘Would I lose a teacher?’
“There are opportunities, but there are challenges, and let’s be honest, the biggest challenge is around accommodation.
“What I would say honestly to the Irish people is it’s not Government policy to go into a town or village and try to take a former hotel or something else – that’s an emergency response. That’s what we’re doing because we have to put a roof over people’s heads.
“We need to get them to a point where we can outline to the Irish people what the medium to long-term sustainable strategy looks like.”
He said that Minister for Children and Integration Roderic O’Gorman is hoping to bring a proposal in relation to Ireland’s long-term strategy for migration to Cabinet in the coming weeks.
Mr Harris was speaking as he launched a plan to double the number of degree courses outside the Central Applications Office (CAO) process.
Since September last year, 23 degree courses were offered to students outside of the CAO points system for the first time.
These were offered on the basis of an interview and other minimum requirements, and 159 students have been pursuing their degree courses in this way.
From September, the number of degree-level courses offered outside of the CAO system will increase to 40, including “in key areas” of the economy such as business, nursing, engineering and construction.
Mr Harris said that they are estimating that by the end of the next college year, 1,000 people will be pursuing their degree in these tertiary courses.
Applications are open from Thursday for the first set of programmes, with further programmes to be added in the coming weeks.
