Up to 5,000 students in Galway still scrambling for accommodation

The student housing crisis continues to deepen as more and more students seek to defer their courses amid a dearth of accommodation.

The President of GMIT Students’ Union, Colin Kearney, told the Galway City Tribune that the deferral rate for courses was “way above previous years” – and raised concerns that there would be a deluge of dropouts once the deadline for payment of fees comes in October.

Up to 2,000 GMIT students were still scrambling for accommodation – and over 3,000 from NUIG – and crisis showed no sign of abating, he said.

With many students now facing a choice between abandoning their education or facing lengthy commutes with expensive hostel and hotel stays, the Government was failing young people, said Mr Kearney.

The student representative said not only was the city’s student bed capacity bursting at the seams, but areas in the county were also under pressure.

“For the first time ever, students are having problems finding accommodation in Mountbellew,” said Mr Kearney, where GMIT’s agricultural college is based.

“At our Letterfrack campus, where we do have on-campus accommodation, there are 30 names on the waiting list. That might not sound like a lot, but it’s about 10% of the student population there,” he continued.

In the city, GMIT students were reliant on private purpose-built accommodation or competing with renters in the private sector – and it was proving an impossible task for many.

“It’s all private – we have Glasán Student Village across the road [from the Dublin Road Campus] and Cúirt na Rasaí in Ballybrit – they’re both full,” said Mr Kearney of the purpose-built accommodation.

“There was another one – Tír na gCapall in Ballybrit – but that hasn’t been available to students since last year.”

There were several contributory factors making this year worse than any before, said Mr Kearney, but Covid had had been one of the most significant.

“Covid has had major implications. Digs [where students live with a homeowner] are extremely scarce this year because in many cases, people are afraid to have people staying in their homes because of Covid.”
This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the story and more on the student accommodation crisis – including the story of a student living in a hotel, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.