Thousands of students are marching in protest from the Garden of Remembrance to the Dáil today to protest the Government's failure to tackle student accommodation crisis and the soaring cost of going to college. Students tell us that they are drowning in costs as they struggle to afford third-level education. So many cannot find an affordable home near to their college, so they couch surf, commute exceptionally long distances or, if they are lucky, they are forced to pay rip-off rent. This is having a terrible impact on their education and their mental health and general well-being. Students feel that the accommodation crisis is robbing them of a future in Ireland. Students have been telling their stories to their union, the Union of Students in Ireland, USI. One student said;

It impacts my studies. I have to choose between buying my dinner or paying my rent.

Another said:

I am in a constant stress of how I will make enough to pay the bills. I haven't had a good sleep in two months. I'm constantly waking up unable to focus and feeling helpless at times.

Another said:

I commute. I have lost out on my social life and I'm completely burnt out. Another three years left on my course and it feels like torture.

The accommodation crisis faced by students is just one symptom of Government's wider failure in housing. An entire generation is locked out of affordable housing and homeownership, of opportunity and of a decent future. On the watch of this Government, any semblance affordability has been torn to shreds. Record rents keep rising and house prices are sky-high. The lack of affordable housing means we have students choosing between financial hardship or dropping out. Thousands of young adults find themselves stuck living at home with their parents, and many finally decide just to leave Ireland to have their chance at a better future. They get their qualifications having done the training and then they board planes to Perth, Toronto or Boston.

It is, therefore, little wonder that the crisis has become a barrier to employers hiring workers, schools hiring teachers and hospitals hiring nurses and doctors. What has the Government response been? No urgency, no pace, no ambition. The Government's affordable housing delivery for the first six months of this year is paltry. It is a drop in the ocean of what is required to turn the tide. Níl sa ghéarchéim lóistín mhac léinn ach léiriú ar an bhfadhb go bhfuil ag teipeadh ar an Rialtas arís agus arís eile ó thaobh tithíochta. Tá gá le méadú ollmhór ar sholáthar tithe ar phraghas réasúnta. Teastaíonn Rialtas ó oibrithe, ó theaghlaigh agus ó mhic léinn a chuirfidh deireadh leis an ngéarchéim tithíochta.

Taoiseach, your 12 years in government is a story of Fine Gael failure in housing. From what the Government has been leaking so far, it appears that it will continue that record of failure in next week's budget. The truth is there needs to be a radical change of direction in housing. No more excuses and no more skirting around the edges of the problem. It is time to make housing affordable again for workers, families and those students who are protesting today. Next week's budget must represent that change. That means providing investment necessary for a massive scaling up in the delivery of affordable housing. Will the Taoiseach commit to that essential funding, and a huge increase in funding, in next week's budget? Can he specifically tell me what action he proposes to take to address the student accommodation crisis?

I thank the Deputy for her question. I am very much aware of the student protest that is taking place today. In Ireland in 2023, there are more people attending third-level and higher education than ever was the case in the past. People attending higher education and further education come from more diverse and more non-traditional backgrounds than ever was the case in the past. Students graduating today are more likely to get employment immediately after graduation than ever was the case in the past. They are good things that we should celebrate and progress that the Deputy should acknowledge.

When it comes to the next budget, I can guarantee that students will not be forgotten. They were not forgotten in the last budget. In the last budget, we reduced college fees and increased the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant. We made it easier for people to get the SUSI grant. We extended the rent credit to students and their parents if their parents were paying the rent. That was worth more than €1,000 per year to most students. I acknowledge, of course, that student accommodation can be hard to find and often can be very expensive. We are ramping up investment when it comes to student accommodation. Compared to this time last year, there are 900 more student beds or student apartments than was the case, and that is in publicly funded institutions. If we add privately provided student accommodation, we can add another 2,000 to that. Therefore, just since this time last year, there are approximately 900 additional student beds in publicly funded higher education institutions with an additional 2,000 being provided by the private sector. We are also taking other actions. The rent-a-room scheme, for example, is very popular at the moment whereby people can rent out a room in their house or apartment and earn up to €14,000 without paying any income tax. We have now changed the rules so that if somebody rents out a room in their house or apartment to a student or anyone else, it does not affect his or her eligibility for a medical card. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is working on proposals to extend that to people who are in social housing. Many are located very close to college campuses, which is a lot of spare rooms. His proposal is to make sure that somebody who is in social housing can rent out a room without it affecting his or her rent or eligibility for a medical card. We are also investing in purpose-built student accommodation. Since 2016, only seven years or so ago, the number of student beds and student apartments has increased by 13,000, which is a very considerable number. As we speak, there are a further 8,000 under construction. Therefore, what the Deputy is calling for us to do is already well under way. It is happening before her eyes, if she cares to open them.

My eyes are wide open. Listening to the Taoiseach, one would imagine there is no problem at all. One would scratch one's head and wonder why thousands of our young brightest and best are mobilising on the streets today because according to the Taoiseach, there is no problem. According to him, it is not a problem that students commute for hours and hours to the extent that their social lives are totally broken and their mental and physical well-being is compromised. According to the Taoiseach, it is not a problem that rents are at record highs and that students really struggle to meet these rents. We heard about the young person who makes that decision about whether to eat or pay rent.

According to the Taoiseach, it is not a problem, it seems, that we are losing again a generation of talented, qualified people who we need in this country to build Ireland. Apparently, that is okay. According to Leo Varadkar, it is all going to plan. That is in his world. In the real world, where people with their eyes open look and care to see the evidence before them, our young people are really struggling - struggling to get basic accommodation so that they can pursue their study.

I thank the Deputy.

They come here to ask questions of the Taoiseach and the Government as to what they will do, and it seems the Taoiseach is coming up blank for them.

The time is up now, Deputy, please.

That is not good enough. What will the Taoiseach do in next week's budget to make a real difference in these young people's lives?

Hear, hear.

I acknowledged there is a problem. In fact, I said so in my earlier contribution. I said that student accommodation can be hard to find and can be expensive, and I set out exactly the actions that we have taken already to deal with that. Of course, we will take more in the budget and beyond. Why did Deputy McDonald seek to misrepresent what I said? Why did she seek to put words in my mouth? It is because Deputy McDonald is the great misleader. I heard her do it earlier as well, again, pushing this narrative-----

The Taoiseach is a phantom leader.

Deputies, please.

-----that there is a mass one-way exodus of Irish citizens, Irish nationals and young people from our country. The truth is different. For centuries, Irish people had to leave in huge numbers and did not come home. It is different now. Yes, 80,000 Irish citizens and Irish nationals, many of them young people, left in the past three years, but 90,000 came back. Why will Deputy McDonald never say that? It is because she does not want people to know the truth. She is the misleader, and she wants to get her way into office by creating a false impression about a better country and what it is like.