University College Dublin (UCD) has spent over €5 million in the last three years purchasing residential properties in south Dublin, as part of an unofficial plan to expand its boundaries.
The Irish Times today reported that UCD spent €5.5 million between January 2017 and September 2019 on houses on the Clonskeagh Rd.
People familiar with the purchases told the Irish Times that the college is pursuing the policy privately out of a fear of driving up house prices.
Two of the properties purchased by UCD lay side by side on Rosemount Crescent, a road that backs onto the Clonskeagh Rd, according to figures released to the Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act. One was purchased for €865,000.
A spokesperson for UCD told the Irish Times that as the “information is commercially sensitive the university cannot comment further”.
Confidential minutes from a meeting of UCD’s governing body, which were seen by the Irish Times, showed that the purchase of the properties on Rosemount Crescent was discussed on May 9th, 2019.
The body was told that purchases had been authorised by UCD President Andrew Deeks, with funding “from the consolidated rental income cash flows from UCD’s residential properties”.
The spending had been authorised within the “president’s expenditure authority limits”, minutes said.
University College Dublin Students’ Union (UCDSU) President Joanna Siewierska said spending money purchasing “premium properties for the purpose of owning land around the campus boundary, and not for the purpose of housing students, makes little sense in the current housing crisis”, she told the Irish Times.
Siewierska added that the policy of buying up houses in the area amounted to “playing chess with local properties”.
“It is clear that UCD is being run on a for-profit model, not as a public service”, Siewierska said.
This news also comes after UCD had recently announced a 12 per cent increase in rent for on-campus accommodation over the next three years, raising the overall cost of living up to almost €10,000 for one academic year.
