I wish to raise student accommodation. It is December 2025 and we were promised that a student accommodation strategy would be published this year. It was said it would be published in the summer, then in December, and now we have confirmation it will not be published until 2026. This has not been a priority for the Government. This feeds into the wider housing crisis. There is a lack of purpose-built accommodation and students are suffering from the cost of living as well. Technological universities cannot borrow funds to build student accommodation or purchase lands, so this needs to be addressed urgently. My request of the Minister, Deputy Lawless, is that he give an update on when that strategy is going to be published. The Minister has not ruled out increases to student rents in the private sector under the rent pressure zone, RPZ, legislation, if there will be increases next year, the year after or when that might be. We are opposed to that. We will be hosting a cross-party Opposition action on Thursday at 11 a.m. outside the gates of Leinster House and anyone is welcome to join. This will be in conjunction with student unions to call for action on student accommodation because this is urgent.

I also want to raise the issue of assessments of need. There are 18,000 currently awaiting such assessments, most of whom are children. This figure is set to rise to over 22,000 by the end of the year. This is really concerning and the announcement from the Government last week was not clear. There are many answers that need to be received in relation to it, especially about what role the Department of education is going to have in assessments of need now. I am being contacted by teachers who are worried that they are going to have to take on extra casework in relation to this.

We know 85% of teachers in this country are experiencing some level of burnout. They need to know what is happening with this, who will conduct these assessments of need and how these school places will be assigned.