In the midst of a student housing crisis, the student unions of University College Dublin (UCD), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dublin City University (DCU), National College of Art and Design (NCAD), and Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design (IADT) are distributing flyers to commuters.
The groups appealed to those passing by to rent rooms in their homes to students “to make a difference, and save someone’s education”.
Pádraig Mac Brádaigh, the newly elected Oifigeach na Gaeilge of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), said that he is personally familiar with cases of Dublin students sleeping in cars, couch surfing, and students commuting from far outside Dublin city centre.
Miranda Bauer, University College Dublin Students’ Union’s (UCDSU) President, told The University Times that UCDSU are “seeing a big influx of students who can’t find accommodation at all, and some of them are international students, and they’re really desperate to find something so that they can come here and study.”
“That’s why we’re here trying to get homeowners to rent out a room as a sort of immediate emergency solution.”
Digs have previously been criticised due to cases of landlords taking advantage of students.
The housing charity Threshold previously warned that students in digs “effectively have no rights”, largely due to their legal classification as licensees rather than tenants.
As it currently stands, digs accommodation has no requirement to be registered with the Residential Tenancy Board (RTB). Should students face eviction from digs, they have no clear means of seeking legal recourse.
There is currently legislation passed the third stage of five in the Dáil to address the lack of rights that students face in digs accommodation. The bill was proposed by Sinn Féin TDs Mairéad Farrell and Eoin Ó Broin.
The Union of Students Ireland (USI) have lobbied the government on this issue, and also spectated at the Dáil session where this legislation was discussed.
Homeowners that rent digs to students have the opportunity to earn up to €14,000 tax-free, through the rent-a-room relief scheme.
The Digs Drive will take to Henry Street, the GPO, and St. Stephen’s Green later this week to add rooms to the digs database which students and homeowners can access here.
