Ibec has criticised Dublin City Council’s proposed plans restrict student accommodation developments within one kilometre of already existing purpose built student accommodation.
The group, which represents employers, called on the government to reject the proposal. The proposal, Ibec said, contradicts any accommodation plans currently in place while simultaneously making Dublin a less attractive city to live and work in.
In a press statement, Aidan Sweeney, Senior Policy Executive at Ibec, said that the plan ”ignores and seriously undermines Dublin’s distinct advantage as a global hub for education”.
The proposed plan will give planning authorities the power to reject new student accommodation proposals if there is already purpose-built student accommodation within a three-square kilometre radius of the new site. The initial proposal stated that developers would have to prove that there was “not an over concentration” of student accommodation within 250 metres of any new development. This distance has been extended, however, after the council submitted proposals for a one kilometre distance to be considered.
Sweeney warned that the decision will result in future students housing being pushed “to the outskirts of Dublin and beyond, impacting upon the quality of student life and on the future economic growth of the city”.
The decision will be seen as a step backwards among student groups, who have called for more vigorous action to address the student housing crisis. The government, in its recently announced student accommodation strategy, discussed the role the private providers could play in a market that universities have complained about being priced out of.
If introduced, the Dublin City Council plan could curtail the rapid increase in the number of student accommodation developments being built across the city.
The proposal from Dublin City Council is also something of an abrupt turn away from calls from economists, who have questioned the lack of student accommodation in the city. Speaking to The University Times, Ronan Lyons, an assistant economist in Trinity, said that Ireland was “particularly poorly served by student accommodation”.
“Dublin City Council needs to basically be approving a block of 300 student beds every month between now and 2025”, he said, if supply is to meet demand. While some have questioned the affordability of the rents offered by private student housing companies, the new accommodation outlets have proved popular among many students. In 2017, yet again, Trinity will be leasing rooms from the Binary Hub.
However, the decision to bring forward the proposals indicates that the council is listening to Dublin locals concerned about an influx of students to residential areas. Already, as new student accommodation projects have sprung up across the city, residents and local politicians have expressed anger and concern.
The proposal comes as thousands of students are flooding to the city in search of student accommodation. A recent report by Daft.ie revealed that Dublin rents are well above their 2008 peak, with the average rent for a single room in the city centre now at €632.
