A leading property company claims a Government scheme designed to tackle the student accommodation crisis has failed to make any substantial impact.
The Section 50 student accommodation scheme introduced two years ago by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, is not attractive enough for developers, it claimed.
A spokesman for Sherry Fitzgerald, the selling agent for over 80 per cent of Section 50 properties, said 15,500 apartments could be made available to students if the scheme was improved. It is understood that about 2,000 apartments have been certified under the scheme to date.
He said that while the scheme gave developers tax relief on rental income, this was not enough to persuade investors to switch from traditionally more lucrative areas such as residential and commercial property.
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has also complained in recent days that Government schemes for student accommodation have failed.
It is currently campaigning to get the Government to build oncampus accommodation to relieve the crisis.
Sherry Fitzgerald and other property companies are asking the Government to allow Section 50 developments to qualify for mortgage interest relief.
"It is more expensive for Irish property developers to invest in Section 50 in comparison to traditional residential developments due to the development guidelines which must be adhered to and the ongoing management costs of the complexes," the spokesman said.
The Department of Education said yesterday that 14,000 Irish students holidaying or working in 47 different countries accessed their Leaving Cert results on the Internet in the first three days after the results were issued.
This year is the first time students had this option. Students in places as far away as the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Thailand, Jordan, Costa Rica, Brazil and Kyrgyzstan availed of the service.
Almost 13,500 students accessed their exam results by phone.