By Jamie Ryan 

Yugo Student Accommodation – Photo Credit: Jamie Ryan 

The student accommodation crisis in Ireland has been an on-going issue for the past few years. 

Every year, a new batch of students from across Ireland are accepted into universities, in which it is not an option for them to commute – along with returning students who are also actively seeking out accommodation for their upcoming academic year.  

Kerry Ann-Darcy, 22, a recent graduate of Maynooth University, but originally from Dundalk in Louth, struggled each year during her time in university to seek accommodation.  

“It’s not easy to find student accommodation in general, especially when there is a ‘first come, first serve’ general booking forum for on-campus accommodation,” Darcy explained.  

“The university was not helpful and suggested that alternative accommodation could be found on a website called ‘Student Pad’ but that was it. But on Student Pad, the landlords are extremely picky with terms such as gender specific, academic year specific, course specific, degree specific and so on. 

“Even once I did get accommodation, there were issues with it. My landlord had a table and chair for us in the dining room at the house viewing but had it removed for when I moved in and he told me that I ‘was imagining that there had been one there’. 

Yugo Student Accommodation – Photo Credit: Jamie Ryan 

“He complained and gave out to me because we had access to a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen – although that’s what I was paying him for but that’s the bare minimum. In third year, my landlady said that I had to be finished in the kitchen before 6pm but some of my classes only finished at that time,” Darcy added. 

Back in 2022, the Minister for Further and Higher Education at the time, Simon Harris, made calls to homeowners living nearby to universities to rent out any spare rooms that they may have in their house to students – as a result of the severe lack of student accommodation to supply the high demands.  

This alternative, however, does not necessarily end up costing students less as research carried out by the USI (Union of Students in Ireland) in February found that students are paying an average of €660 across the country to live in digs, with just 43% of those students given full access to the room, seven days per week. 

This same study also found that of those surveyed, 59% said that they chose to live in digs as a result of being unable to find an alternative.  

Antrim native Caitlin Procter, 19, was unable to attend university this year due to the lack of student accommodation available.  

“After being accepted into multiple courses, I wasn’t even able to accept any of them because I couldn’t find anywhere to live,” she explained.  

“I was really annoyed and frustrated about it so I sought elsewhere for digs but was still unsuccessful and unfortunately I can’t afford to commute two and a half or three hours per day to and from Belfast and Sligo,” she said.  

This is a situation that unfortunately, too many students and university hopefuls find themselves in each year and it appears to be getting worse and worse.  

Ardcairn House Student Accommodation – Photo Credit: Jamie Ryan 

Dylan Downes, 22, a former student at the University of Limerick, originally from Wicklow, was living in digs for his first year in third level education as the commute between Wicklow and Limerick twice each week was unfeasible.  

“I felt that living in digs was my only choice to be honest. I got an apartment with some of my friends for the following year, but I really felt that I probably lost out on the social aspect of college in first year,” Downes explained. 

“My commute to and from college each day was around forty-five minutes, which is obviously better than three hours but even still, when you’re paying €700 per month for a room, it is disheartening, and I sometimes felt pretty isolated. 

“Thankfully, my accommodation search in second year was far less stressful because one of my friends had already reserved an apartment for the following year and offered me the other room with him, in many cases looking for accommodation is more about who you know than anything else in my experience,” he said.  

The student accommodation crisis is a direct result of the greater housing crisis that Ireland has been dealing with for the last decade.