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LAST UPDATE | 18 Feb 2020
STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITY College Dublin this morning organised a rally calling on the college to reverse an increase in on-campus rents.
UCD has faced criticism from students for increasing rents for on-campus student accommodation by 12% over the next three years – an increase that would see rents rising to between €8,000 and €9,900 per year over the next three years.
Under rent-pressure zone legislation, rent increases are capped at 4% each year. Up until last year, this legislation didn’t apply to student accommodation.
Dozens of students, carrying signs reading “Stop the 12%” protested against the decision.
Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said that he had written to university presidents to request meetings over proposed rent increases.
“High rents are a barrier to education,” he wrote on Twitter.
Ó Broin told TheJournal.ie that Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University have agreed to meet him next week, while both University College Cork and NUI Galway have agreed to meet at some point in the future.
He is still waiting to hear from UCD, Maynooth University and the University of Limerick.
“I welcome the fact that the universities responded so quickly,” he said.
“While universities are acting in the letter of the law,” Ó Broin added, “no one believes a 12% increase is the right thing for students”.
Ó Broin said that he understood the “financial reality” facing Irish colleges and said he hoped to discuss “creative and sensible” alternatives to addressing funding issues that didn’t impact negatively on students.
UCD
“We are outraged by this decision. We will show management that we will not let this happen,” University College Dublin Students’ Union President Joanna Siewierska said in a statement.
“We are showing the University Management Team that they will not use campus residences as a fundraiser anymore,” she said.
The students’ union is demanding that the rent increase is stopped and rents decreased.
It also wants the college to introduce a rental support scheme for students struggling in the private sector.
UCD isn’t the only college set to increase rents. In NUI Galway and Dublin City University, university management has also decided to increase rents by 4%.
Students’ unions have reacted angrily to the rent hikes. Dublin City University Students’ Union President Christine Farrell said that “students are already under huge financial burdens in the midst of an accommodation crisis”.
Education, she said, “is an absolute right and not a privilege of those more fortunate”.
Rising rents for students has been a major concern in recent years, fuelled by the growth of private student accommodation providers.
Some providers, which advertise “luxury” or “boutique”, charge at least €250 a week in rent.
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As usual trying to put a good spin on Ireland’s figures. Most of our improvement is due to “scambridge” hiring interns.
Most countries have internships. My friend is doing one in London.
And most of Germanys low figure is accountable due to the fact that they don’t have a minimum hourly wage – I’m not sure if it is the same in Austria. This means people can be working, legally, for nothing. Just another way that a government is trying to hide it’s unemployment rate.
Although, some quick googling to fact check shows that Germany have actually agreed to introduce a minimum wage by next year – Let’s see if they keep the same low unemployment levels with that.
Bobby, the difference between an internship and the ‘job’bridge interns is that any employer can hire as many job bridge interns as they want, pay them nothing, and then let them go after the time, and then just hire another poor soul to do the exact same job. No promise to keep them on, and in a lot of cases you see, no real value to the internships offered (stacking shelves, washing cars etc.).
Exactly, it’s mostly completely taken advantage of.
It is a crap system, but it’s the same in England, graduates doing interns stacking shelves. Recently a graduate was sent to work in a pound shop by the jobcentre to stack shelves. She took them to court and won?
So just because they are taking complete advantage of young unemployed people in Britain, it’s grand that we’re doing the same here?
Nope, I never said that, just letting you know you’re not alone.
Ah sorry, my misunderstanding. I thought you were just trying to justify the system because it happens elsewhere.
Actually, I believe Germany has just introduced a minimum wage (€8.50) in the last few weeks.
White Fang, yes I know and linked to an article about it (as it was news to me until I looked it up) in my post above.
Maybe people should look up the definition of internships. Then compare them to what happens on the jobsbridge scam!
Sorry Dave, I completely missed that!
@alan Most of our improvement is due to high end IT, Pharma and Finance jobs. Basic maths kiddo (which ironically is the reason you wouldn’t get a job in any of those sectors.)
Every job in FAS/Solas is for this scam, and scam it is when local auctioneers & solicitors advertising for staff promising a good internship, funded by money stolen from private pension accounts, most vile Government in the history of the state.l
@Bobby
I don’t know if it’s the same story, but I read about a woman with a history degree who was serving as a volunteer intern in a museum.
But her local job centre told her she couldn’t volunteer as that meant she wasn’t “available for work”. They then promptly put her to work in Dealz. And she would lose her dole payment if she refused to take the “job”. So she ended up working a 40 hour week against her will for approx £70.
Dealz wins. Job centre wins. Everyone but the poor woman who was working towards a more permanent placement in the museum wins.
Thanks for that Tom.
The BBC said last week, 26 million people unemployed in the EU
Bobby what possible reason could Eurostat have for manipulation of the true figures.
26 million unemployed in the EU, 18 million in the Eurozone.
Does anybody have an accurate figure as to what our unemployment rate would look like without the old immigration release valve? I imagine we’d be looking at close to the same rate as Greece. We sure are lucky that we speak English and can ship out all those workers for whom there are no jobs.
18 million jobless in the EU and still hundreds of thousands on non EU migrants are allowed enter Europe looking for work every year…madness
I’d love to know out of that 18.9 million how many are people that never want to work . Freeloaders if you will.
With any luck Gilmore will be out of a job soon.
Going by some of the regular trolls….probably 18 million or so..sure who,d want to work when you can live in luxury on the scratcher..and the sort of tripe these idiots post.
The people out of work need help people like you gay only make the situation worse !!
Who are the freeloaders to which you refer? Politicans such as our own, spineless lot? or people in long term unemployment on benefits who require said benefits to survive? We know who gets the blame these days and its the latter.
Yes its so much fun been on the dole and trying to scrape by on 100euro a week…madness!.and you have the cheek to call us all freeloaders?.funnily enough most of us would rather be working and earning some sort of living for ourselves as opposed to living on peanuts!.
well said Denise. the contempt is disgraceful
Thank you Sean, I just get tired of hearing how we are all lazy so-and-so’s when its not the case at all…i got laid off a couple of weeks back simply because there wasnt enough work and have had no luck with finding another job
At 5000 jobs a month Happy Gilmore will have it sorted in 300 years. On a side note… That labour, 70000 jobs ad (blatant lie) at the bottom is making me sick.
I am glad to see those good for nothing screw balls in Leinster house got them self A3Job .
have your say