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10,000 students are on waiting lists for accommodation around Ireland.
Third level students slept outside Leinster House last night to highlight severe shortages of accommodation.
It's estimated 10 thousand students are currently on waiting lists for a place to live during the college term.
We’re sleeping outside the Dáil highlighting the severity of the student accommodation crisis. We’ve been elevating YOUR voices all day & will continue to fight for you until ALL students have access to affordable purpose-built student accommodation ✊🏼 #NoKeysNoDegrees pic.twitter.com/lKihnoLLhE
— Union of Students in Ireland (@TheUSI) September 23, 2021
The Union of Students in Ireland is calling for new laws to prevent operators of student accommodation from renting it out for other purposes.
The Department of Higher Education says the use of student accommodation for short-term and other housing purposes is deeply disappointing.
Dr. Lorcan Sirr is Senior Lecturer in Housing at the Technological University, Dublin.
He joined Ciara Noble on Friday's edition of Kildare Today.