271. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the efforts being made to address the chronic shortage of accommodation for students in Limerick. [29047/26]

The new National Student Accommodation Strategy 2026-2035 sets out a pathway to make higher education more accessible by addressing two critical challenges, accommodation supply and viability and accommodation affordability.

To address supply and viability the strategy sets out a balanced approach including: -

• A commitment to long term State-backed measures to activate supply, working in partnership with the private sector.

• Support for the development of accommodation on public campuses as well as on private sites near to campus, subject to State Aid clearance.

• The development of a framework, in line with relevant Departmental consents, to support Technological Universities to develop nomination agreements with the private sector.

• The expansion of the Technological Sector Student Accommodation Programme to include traditional universities enabling the sector as a whole to meet demand; and

• The enhanced supply of student beds through promotion of Rent-a-Room accommodation.

We have already engaged extensively with the Technological Sector where multiple proposals have been developed and these will be brought forward on a phased basis this year.

The homeowner room-rental campaign ran again in advance of academic year 2025/26. As of March 2026, over 4,800 rent a room beds were advertised nationwide, with 562 of rent a room beds being advertised in Limerick.

The University of Limerick provides 2,934 purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) beds on-campus, while Mary Immaculate College offers 146 beds.