A £60 million proposal to provide on-campus accommodation to alleviate the student housing crisis was presented yesterday by the Union of Students in Ireland to the Minister of State for Housing, Mr Bobby Molloy.
But USI president Mr Philip Madden said it was "unacceptable" that the Minister was "unable to give us any indication that he intends to implement this plan". USI is proposing direct State investment of £20 million a year, for three years, in on-campus accommodation.
It says this would take 13,000 students out of the private rental sector and free up units in that sector.
The shortage of student accommodation in Dublin in particular "has reached crisis point", Mr Madden said.
While USI welcomed the introduction of tax reliefs for building student accommodation, it was sceptical whether this would solve the problem.