Dublin City University (DCU) did not act “in the spirit of the law” when it increased monthly fees relating to on-campus student accommodation, Minister for Higher Education James Lawless has said.
The Minister has written to the president of DCU, Dáire Keogh, asking him to “reconsider and to clarify” the price increase reported by The Irish Times this week.
Increases in mandatory monthly service charges this year, covering utilities, combined with separate rent increases, resulted in total monthly payments going up almost 7 per cent.
The accommodation complex is based within a rent pressure zone (RPZ), where rent increases are capped at 2 per cent per year or by the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.
READ MORE
However, DCU’s approach does not appear to break RPZ rules because the main increase is driven by the service charge and not the rent.
“While this approach may be technically within the letter of the law, I do not believe it is in the spirit of the law and I am therefore asking DCU to reconsider this decision,” Mr Lawless said in the letter seen by The Irish Times.
Ireland faces a “national student accommodation challenge” and, against this backdrop, the Minister said he was “not pleased to see the college hiking charges in this way”.
He said the university had a “duty to support students, not to exploit loopholes in rent pressure protections”.
The entire country was brought under RPZ rules in June this year, while further amendments to the legislation are due to come into effect in March 2026.
Mr Lawless said he would work with Minister for Housing James Browne in advance of these amendments to ensure it “addresses this loophole directly”.
Requesting the university give “urgent attention” to “this matter of serious concern”, Mr Lawless asked for three clarifications.
[ ‘Nowhere to live’: Ireland’s student accommodation crisis is only getting worseOpens in new window ]
DCU should provide a breakdown of how the new service charge was calculated, specifying what costs have risen and providing receipts to tenants substantiating the increased service charges.
“I am deeply concerned and I believe it is essential that students and their families are given clear, detailed and timely information about any financial changes affecting their accommodation,” he said.
DCU declined to comment and said it would respond directly to the Minister.
Adele O’Neill, whose daughter is living on campus at DCU, previously told The Irish Times she felt “robbed” by the increase in service charges.
While she was now “pleased” her concerns have been brought to the college formally, she was “equally disheartened that media escalation seems to be required before any public representatives, including the Ministers, pay attention to injustice in this country”.
“I have been raising this issue with the senior management of DCU, as well as with Minister Lawless and Minister Browne, since August 1st,” she said.
“These are the very same questions I posed nearly seven weeks ago. Yet my emails seeking answers and clarity went unanswered by DCU senior management and by both Ministers’ offices, apart from replies explaining how busy they were or directing me to raise a case with the RTB,” Ms O’Neill told The Irish Times after seeing the letter from Mr Lawless to DCU.
She said elected representatives should “do what they were elected to do without the promise of an article or photo op”.
“DCU need to be held to account. I paid €52 a month for utilities in May 2025 and in September I’m asked to pay €116 per month, with no notice or justification. It’s simply unfair and this dispute needs to be resolved.”
