Thousands of on-campus student beds across Dublin remain unbuilt despite being granted planning permission several years ago, due to high construction costs and a gap in Government funding cited by universities.
Planning permission has been granted as far back as 2018 for 2,853 units in University College Dublin (UCD), Dublin City University (DCU) and Trinity Hall, but none have begun construction, university sources have confirmed.
This comes amid a worsening student accommodation crisis, with prospective students struggling to find a place to live this coming academic year.
While the State has a €100 million grant scheme to help universities build some of these units, academics and colleges have now called for this to be increased amid the current crisis.
READ MORE
DCU secured planning permission for 1,240 student beds at its Glasnevin campus in 2019. Construction has not yet begun on any of these units due to “the escalating cost of construction”, a spokesman for DCU said.
Trinity College Dublin secured planning permission for 358 student beds at its Trinity Hall residence on Dartry Road, Dublin 6, in 2022. Building has not yet begun on any of these units.
“We are keeping lines of communication open with Government as to funding for this project. The project cannot proceed until sufficient funding is secured,” a spokeswoman for TCD confirmed.
At UCD, planning permission that was granted in 2018 for some 1,254 beds remains unactivated.
A letter sent by then UCD president to the minister for higher education in 2022 said the project was “not viable” and could not go ahead as planned due to “increased construction costs and constraints on further rent increases”.
In April 2024 the Government announced its Short Term Activation Plan, which provided funding of €100 million to universities to help them build more than 1,000 student beds on campus that had planning permission but could not be progressed due to rising costs.
While no beds have yet been opened up under this scheme, the Department of Further and Higher Education provided an update on its progress in response to questions from The Irish Times.
“Under the Short-Term Activation Programme, €100 million has been allocated to restart stalled purpose-built student accommodation projects.
“The first of these, delivering 116 beds at Maynooth University, is being officially opened on September 8th, 2025, while further projects are being advanced at UCD (493 beds) and DCU (405 beds),” the department said.
The 493 beds at UCD are “currently awaiting approval to enter contract”, the department said, while the 405 beds at DCU are “subject to a live procurement process”.
These beds at UCD and DCU will come out of the existing unactivated planning permission figures detailed above.
While progress under this scheme is welcome, Michelle Norris, professor of Social Policy at UCD and member of the Housing Commission, says these capital investment grants need to be increased to “unlock additional supply” in the sector.
“In recent years, the Government has expanded the supports available to universities to provide student housing on campus or on university-owned sites, and that’s positive, but I think the level of support is just not sufficient in light of the challenges in delivering housing [such as rising construction costs], and it needs to be expanded,” Ms Norris told The Irish Times.
The cost of finance is also an issue for colleges, Ms Norris said, with universities “essentially expected to borrow the money to provide student housing and then let the housing at rents that will enable them repay the debt and manage and maintain the housing”.
“The State has increased subsidies for cost rental housing provision very significantly in recent years, but the subsidies available to the university sector just aren’t high enough to enable us to deliver this housing,” Ms Norris says.
