TUS students join national walkout to highlight accommodation crisis
By Rebekah O'Reilly
Students at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), Athlone, campus staged a protest on Thursday, October 17, as part of the National Student Walkout.
Some 100 students attended the protest outside the Count John McCormack Centre in TUS Athlone with posters featuring messages such as 'protect us students', 'end precarious contracts', and 'minimum wage = living wage', as they chanted the slogan "this is why we have to fight, these are basic student rights".
Across the country, students' unions from various universities organised protests and demonstrations to highlight issues that are causing students difficulty in remaining in education.
Dara Lenihan, TUS Students' Union (TUS SU) Deputy President, said the Students' Union have students coming to them every day asking for help with financial difficulties and housing issues.
He highlighted accommodation, parking issues and the cost of education amongst the most frequent raised by local students.
“We have people coming into us every day saying that they can't afford accommodation, they can't even get to their classes on time because of parking issues.
“The students are angry at the college, but there's so little that the college can do,” he said, in relation to parking. “I spent all summer ringing different businesses to see if we could rent or buy parking spaces – it's that bad.
“It's ridiculous that we have students coming in all the time that are homeless, or they can't afford to eat because they have to pay for their college fees. Education isn't a luxury – it's a right, I just can't understand why this is still going on.”
The TUS SU Deputy President said the protest aimed to highlight blind spots that the government is yet to address in relation to accommodation and the financial burden of college fees.
“There are blind spots that the government haven't seen or addressed. They have been taking little steps, but we keep getting to the same point of students left in really bad situations, be it accommodation or financially, and these problems are affecting the entire country.
“I keep hearing people saying they're gonna leave Ireland, and it's so painful to hear because we could be the future of this country but we can't if we're not here.”
Previously, a National Student Walkout was held in 2022. Whilst small measures have been taken to address the concerns highlighted at the time – the TUS SU feel there is more to be done.
“There's been a little bit of a rise in minimum wage but it's not equal to the cost of living,” he said. “They have put in some provisions of protection for people in digs,” Dara added.
As part of the Housing For All initiative introduced in September 2021, the government agreed that technological universities (TU) should be given authority to borrow to build student accommodation.
In February of this year, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris said a specific TU borrowing framework would require approval from Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform.
Phase two of the plan was said to be underway at that time, with an anticipated final submission in August of this year - however no update has been issued yet.
Dara said: “There's still no progression on the TU borrowing policy, which is a huge blockade for us actually building purpose-built student accommodation. So there's been bits and pieces but nothing really substantial.”
This year's National Student Walkout comes at a key moment, as a General Election looms.
“We need an election quickly. I hope the government is listening to students across Ireland – we want a General Election. We need to use our vote, and we need to elect the right people.”