This article is part of a series curated by students and recent graduates from colleges and universities in Ireland
‘I refuse to accept the horror that has become the status quo’
Jenny Maguire, president of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union
Dear Deputy Mary Lou McDonald*,
“Mould or homelessness?” questions a Trinity News article from November 2023. This question, of course, seeks to provoke the reader. It is purposefully shocking in order to get people to read it, but I must ask – who is it really shocking to? After working in a students’ union for a number of months now, I am not shocked. For the average student, this question is far from shocking. Instead, it is a question that has become increasingly normalised as each academic year rears its head.
According to the Irish University Association, there stands a €260 million deficit in the higher education sector. This has far-reaching impacts. Universities are no longer places of learning: they are businesses. To make ends meet, colleges across the country have turned from the Government for funding to their students.
Through accommodation costs, extracting heavy fees from international students and more, the price of running a university is being pushed on to students. Postgraduate researchers are paid less than minimum wage; they also receive no maternity leave. Would your party change this?
The rent-a-room scheme has created an incentive for landlords to provide accommodation to students. However, doing so without providing protection to those students is to put them at increased harm. Students can be thrown out at a moment’s notice. Students have no right to a lock on their door. Desperate students are settling not just for mould, but a complete lack of dignity in order to find somewhere to rest their head. The digs legislation needs to pass to prevent this: would it remain a priority for your party in government?
These questions are put as if there is just one type of student experience, but as you know, there isn’t. I, myself, as a transgender woman from the north side of Dublin, have seen first hand how college isn’t the same for everyone. I had to take a year out and repeat another: a direct result of the lack of healthcare for transgender young people in this country.
Our healthcare for transgender people breaks World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines: The WHO, since 2019, no longer classifies transgender people as suffering from mental illness. Countries have had since January 2022 to recognise this – and yet in Ireland, you must go through hours of psychological evaluations with a mental health nurse and psychologist to get any form of healthcare. On a personal level, this is a humiliating process that has made me feel I couldn’t be myself in the service, but instead, a version of myself that I thought would be acceptable to two doctors in Loughlinstown.
My question is why? Why is this still happening? I, and many others like me, refuse to accept the horror that has become the status quo. Your party [in the north] has doubled down on the controversial CASS report, implementing a temporary ban on puberty blockers. Your party [in the North] has doubled down on the controversial CASS report, implementing a temporary ban on puberty blockers. In the Republic, there is little or no access to puberty blockers, which would have allowed me to have a normal time as a teenager. They would have given me space to truly be myself, and not the depressed child I was forced to be. I wish to appeal to your humanity. I am stubbornly optimistic about my life, and yet it is the failing policies that do not meet the needs of the people that so often make me question my own ability to keep a smile on my face. How would you make things different?
Is mise, le meas,
Jenny Maguire
*This letter was sent to a representative for Sinn Féin; however the party did not respond within the time frame. Jenny is happy to meet the party at any point to discuss her concerns.
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‘Pressures of fees and rent are grinding my peers into the ground’
Tess O’Regan, University College Cork student
Dear Tánaiste Micheál Martin,
It is a cliche, that a student – when afforded a public platform – will address the issue of housing. It is a cliche and yet, if we consider that the housing crisis continues despite all this addressing, we might realise that the greatest cliche is the fact that no one has fixed it yet. Tánaiste, I am 21. I have been a student at UCC for the past three years and I am lucky: I did not need to move out to go to university. Lucky indeed, or I would not have been able to afford to go.
The combined financial pressures of university fees and rent are grinding my peers into the ground. How do you make enough money to pay fees and rent and feed yourself when you are a student? You might argue that the Susi grant supports students. But the Susi grant, for those who receive it, does little against the rising cost of living and rent hikes. Those who do not receive the grant are often excluded by restrictive criteria. In the government’s eyes they are not “poor enough” to receive help and yet in reality they are struggling. Many students work part-time or even full-time to subsidise their studies. How are students supposed to find time for education when they must work so much to fund that education?
Two years ago, I made a short documentary with a few of my classmates. It was about students’ experiences of the housing crisis. In it, we interviewed students around Cork, in a variety of situations. Some were living in purpose-built accommodation. Some were in private rentals. Others in unregistered houses. All were exhausted and disenchanted with life. I have filmed in rooms where the air was so thick with mould that breathing through your nose was not feasible. The entire crew fell ill the day after filming.
Again, we were lucky. At the end of the day, we got to leave. The students living there did not. That was their home and they were paying €400 per month to keep it. €400, you might say, is on the lower end of the rent price scale. Almost affordable, if you do not turn on the heating during the winter. If you do not take into account the healthcare costs that stem from living there.
There is plenty of building in Cork. Offices, hotels, expansions of the port; you name it, there’s a construction crew on it. There are plenty of buildings in Cork too. Houses with boarded-up windows rot while students, asylum seekers, families and people in need walk past them – homeless. There is no shortage of roofs, only a shortage of good judgment about what to do with them. Newly built housing will never fix this crisis while it is privately contracted and privately owned. Private means extortion. Private means evictions. Private means prioritising profit. Is this what Ireland is; a country that values industry and economics over people?
I studied film and English literature for my undergraduate degree at UCC. An arts degree teaches you how to think for yourself, a skill that has become all the more important as falsified information and bigoted sentiments emerge in the mainstream. I know I do not need to tell you this, Tánaiste, as a student of the arts yourself. Yet I say it because the rise of the far right typically occurs when people are impoverished, desperate and looking for a scapegoat. The ground is ripe for a populist movement to take root. Only proper public supports, information and education can correct this. But support is lacking and education is too expensive. Since the UK left, Ireland has the highest third-level fees in the European Union. To justify the cost of education, students need to see a return on their investment with high-paying jobs. Third-level education has become about gaining money rather than knowledge: it’s an investment not in ourselves but in our careers.
Tánaiste, I have two older sisters. The eldest went to primary school during the mid-1990s and early 2000s, when you were minister for education and science. You held this office between 1997 and 2000 and effected a lot of improvements for primary education. I bring this up to appeal to you. While your portfolio might look different today, you were once heavily invested in the education of young children.
Those young children became teenagers who became young adults. They are now struggling to buy houses. The children that came after them, like myself, cannot afford to keep a roof over their heads, let alone afford to continue education. If you wish to protect your legacy as minister for education, you will protect the right to education.
As Budget 2025 approaches, I urge you to support improvements to third-level funding, to advocate for further reductions in fees and to ensure that the arts are treated with respect. Likewise, I know I speak for thousands of young people when I say I want to see results from the Government’s housing schemes. We have asked and waited and been disappointed again and again. You lose a generation of votes if you do not deliver safe and affordable housing. I anticipate your response.
Sincerely,
Tess O’Regan
Micheál Martin’s response
Dear Tess,
Thank you for your letter. You open your correspondence describing your concern, as a student, about the issue of housing as “a cliche”. It is not, and you are correct to highlight what it means for your generation. I understand and appreciate the profound impact that the country’s housing crisis has had on people in general, and on students in particular.
When I came into Government as taoiseach in mid-2020, I described the housing crisis as the most important social issue facing the country. That was why, along with colleagues, I launched Housing For All – the biggest investment and direct intervention in the housing market in the country’s history.
In the few short years since then, we have built 115,000 new homes – that’s more homes than the previous two governments combined – and 52,000 new homes have been started on site in just the last 12 months. I know this is scant comfort for those still in need of a home, but it is evidence, I hope, that as a Government we are serious about dealing with this issue.
You write powerfully about the effect of low-quality student accommodation on the hopes and outlook of students forced to endure it. This is not acceptable, and as a Government we are determined to make the investment necessary to make such experiences a thing of the past. Since 2020, almost 9,000 student beds have been brought into use, through both private and public sector, with a further €100 million allocated in April for the delivery of a further 1,000 beds. In the meantime, our reintroduction of the rent tax credit will hopefully give some financial relief to a significant number of students.
Our programme of investment has not been able to help everyone yet, but it is a meaningful intervention and is helping to build momentum. I hope that as a Government we will shortly publish a new student accommodation strategy to chart the next steps in fixing the problem.
You also write with eloquence about the importance of education to the individual and to society, and I could not agree more. As you recognise in your letter, I have had a passion for education throughout my career. I believe that it is the great leveller and the great enabler, and have always approached politics on the basis that education is the foundation of our nation’s social and economic progress.
That is why we have invested so intensively in it since coming into Government in 2020. Whether it is the introduction of free schoolbooks for the first time, the €5 billion we’ve invested in school buildings, the slashing of school transport fees, Leaving Cert reform, the establishment of a new Department of Further and Higher Education, the abolition of student contribution fees for many students and their substantial reduction for many more, the full restoration of maintenance grants for postgraduate students, or the development of five new technical universities – this Government has, by any fair or objective standard, put education front and centre of our efforts.
My commitment as leader of Fianna Fáil is that any government including my party will continue that ambitious programme of investment in education and that education at all levels, from preschool to postdoctoral, will continue to be recognised, respected and dealt with on the basis that they are key to Ireland’s social and economic progress.
You’re correct that I studied the arts. I studied it at degree and master’s level and, like yourself, did so at University College Cork. My twin brother and I were the first in my family to access third-level education. My late parents both had to leave school at the end of primary due to economic circumstances, but they were passionate about their children getting a decent education. My father was a bus driver, and even though he was over the income thresholds to receive grants due to working overtime, he managed to put us through third level. Throughout my four years in college, I also worked in bakeries – an experience I will always cherish.
So, participation to education is something that is personal and important to me. I had a very invigorating and inspiring time in UCC and that is why I remain passionate about making sure that every person who wants to pursue their education in a field of their choice has the opportunity to do so.
Thank you for engaging and I encourage you to keep challenging and keep advocating on these most important issues. It is vital that the leaders of the future are as passionate about the role of education as those who brought the country to where it is today.
- Micheál Martin is Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence and leader of Fianna Fáil
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‘We don’t all want to go but many feel like we can’t stay’
Kate Henshaw, recent graduate of Trinity College Dublin
Dear An Taoiseach Simon Harris,
I am a 23-year-old woman from Dublin. I recently graduated with a BA in Sociology and Social Policy from Trinity. I spent five years in Trinity College, four spent on my degree and one spent as editor-in-chief of Ireland’s oldest student newspaper, Trinity News. This experience allowed me an insight into the different paths people take to college and the struggles they had to overcome to reach their graduation day.
Though many of these struggles are personal, far more are structural. I was already in the paper by the time you became our first minister for further and higher education. Finally, students had somebody in a senior position in Government to look to for the many structural changes that were needed. Though there have been some notable improvements such as the fee reduction, we have a long way to go.
The hot topic on everyone’s lips is still rent prices, which are only exasperated by a lack of purpose-built student accommodation. Fed up with my hour-and-a-half-long commute, I made the decision to move out in my final year. Despite having a good job that allowed me to work flexible hours, I was still crippled by the cost of my rent. For the nine months I spent in in a shared apartment, I spent over €9,000 on rent. I spent much of the year worrying about rent money. Without the help of parents or other relatives, it is simply not realistic for the average college student to be able to pay these rent prices.
We know that the housing crisis affects everyone, but being priced out of accommodation as a student has become the norm and without investment in affordable college accommodation, this problem will only worsen. I know you have seen this first hand in your time as minister, but students have not seen major improvements in the same time frame.
During my time as editor of the paper, students became increasingly aware of the upcoming general election. Without a doubt the most common thing I heard from students I spoke to about the prospect of voting was a concerning level of apathy. Instead of conversations surrounding who we would be voting for, the conversations centred around phrases like: “Well there’s no party I want to vote for, so I don’t know what I will do”. Many plan to emigrate before the next election, sick of being stuck in their parents’ box rooms and believing that there is nothing left for them in Ireland.
I cannot emphasise enough how concerning I find this as a young person. I implore you and the Government to prioritise young people in the next election, not to improve your own voting numbers but as recognition of the fact that we as a country are losing some of our brightest young minds to other nations. We don’t all want to go but many of us feel like we can’t stay.
Simon Harris’s response
Kate, thank you for taking the time to write to me.
I want to start by congratulating you on recently graduating from Trinity College and thank you for sharing your story with me. I understand your frustration. Over my four years as minister for further and higher education, I had the opportunity to meet thousands of students and hear first hand about the issues you were facing. The cost of third-level education was something raised with me everywhere I went. That is why we have taken steps to drive down the cost of education, including reducing fees and increasing availability of student grants.
The other issue people raised with me was housing, and I want you to know this is my number one priority as Taoiseach. Whether that is student housing, building more homes, delivering more home ownership or ensuring we have enough affordable rental accommodation, this is the single most important issue on my desk. As a Government, we are taking every measure possible. There is not a week that goes by where we do not make a decision on housing. I understand the frustration people have but I want you to know we are restless in our approach. We have taken a number of decisions to help in the area of student accommodation. We have allocated €100 million to build student housing in DCU, UCD and Maynooth.
But we have much more we want to do. As we start to set new housing targets, we will include student accommodation for the first time. This means we will set targets that must include the delivery of student accommodation. That is really important. It means Government will lift our scale of ambition and work with universities across the country to deliver more beds, more housing. Importantly, we need to build more accommodation in the regions. We have built technological universities across the country and we must now construct student housing alongside it. Our young people deserve to have access to student housing. We also must ensure students and families aren’t competing for housing.
When I had the honour of becoming leader of Fine Gael back in April, I said I would move mountains to get young people out of the box room in their parents’ home. I get it. I’m of the generation who understands the difficulties so many people are facing. This is a great country, and our students are the lifeblood of the vibrancy and buzz in our cities, towns and villages. Many people know my story and why I got involved in politics in the first place – to improve services for people. I will listen, make changes and do whatever I can as Taoiseach to make the lives of young people easier.
- Simon Harris is Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael
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‘Students are couch-surfing nightly, even sleeping in fields’
Molly Cantwell, 2024 University of Limerick graduate
Dear Deputy Holly Cairns,
During my time as a student in Limerick, I have seen the suffering of young people first hand. While at the University of Limerick, I heard stories of students couch-surfing nightly, even ending up sleeping in fields near the college when options ran out. Pair this with the rising homelessness rate in the city and it’s more than obvious why there is growing unrest. We need more housing. Not an empty promise of more housing but serious plans using our “rainy day fund” so vehemently protected by the Government. While housing is being built, we need limitations in place as to how much colleges can expand intake. No amount of money to be bled from international students should overtake the basic humanity of a safe and secure place for young adults to live.
In addition to the disastrous housing situation, the housing available is not properly accessible by bus routes: I’m sure the tale of the never-appearing 304 bus has been heard far outside of Limerick. We need 24-hour bus routes allowing students to get home safely, without paying huge amounts for taxis. This step would benefit thousands, so what is the Opposition doing to ensure this issue will be solved?
The money stresses arising from all of these issues lead to mental health issues – Limerick’s suicide rates are consistently the highest in the country. We need an expansion of our mental health care at University Hospital Limerick and beyond. We need affordable therapy, intervention care and addiction services. While there are fantastic college counsellors, they are overworked and not available to students fast enough. Often, the wait to access these services can prove disastrous.
I urge you, as the youngest party leader in our Dáil, to examine these issues and offer up practical, Limerick-citizen based solutions. We need progress to fend off the advances of the ever-growing far-right minority or we’ll be eaten up by hatred in a city that wears its love so proudly. We want international students, we crave furthering our diversity and inclusion, but we can’t do this while we suffer at the hands of a Government seemingly uninterested in looking past Dublin’s issues. I hope as a Cork woman that you’ll understand this frustration.
Le meas,
Molly Cantwell
Holly Cairns’s response
Dear Molly,
Thanks so much for your letter. You have summed up the myriad challenges facing third-level students today, not just in Limerick, but throughout Ireland. Starting college is a really exciting new chapter. But student life has been thrown into turmoil by an unprecedented accommodation crisis .
Like the wider housing emergency, a lack of affordable rental properties is a major part of the problem. The Government’s approach to student accommodation has mirrored its failed response to housing need in general. The over-reliance on the private market has seen a saturation of exorbitantly priced accommodation – way beyond the reach of most students.
The Social Democrats would invest directly in publicly owned affordable student accommodation. In addition, we would introduce a framework that would allow technological universities to borrow on the financial market to build affordable student accommodation – an option not available to them at present. The basic rights of those staying in digs accommodation also need to be strengthened so students can have privacy, security and dignity. To achieve this, we would extend the remit of the Residential Tenancies Board – particularly its dispute resolutions body – to cover people living in digs.
As you point out in your letter, the accommodation crisis is having a severe impact on students’ mental health and wellbeing. As a result, the need for further investment in mental health services for young people could not be greater.
In government, we would increase spending on mental health from five per cent to 10 per cent of the overall health budget to address chronic underinvestment and staff recruitment difficulties. We would also expand Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to cover young people up to the age 25, in line with international best practice, and have an increased focus on early intervention.
You also raised important concerns about Limerick’s public transport deficiencies. Again, the accommodation crisis feeds into this issue as students are pushed farther out of the city to find an affordable place to live. A redesign of the bus network is set to be rolled out from 2025 under BusConnects Limerick, which will hopefully result in some improvements. However, there will still be a need for significant investment in public transport across the midwest region, to include improved rail services and active travel options. Properly functioning transport services are essential if we want to enhance quality of life in our cities, which is why this is an area the Social Democrats would heavily invest in.
The enormous financial burden of going to college is another area in desperate need of reform. In government, our party would increase Susi grants and phase out the student contribution to help take the pressure off students and their families. Going to college should be one of the happiest times in a young person’s life. It shouldn’t have to be this hard – and it doesn’t have to be.
- Holly Cairns is leader of the Social Democrats and a TD for the Cork South-West constituency
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‘Researchers struggle to find suitable accommodation’
Ayaz Ahmad, postgraduate researcher at University of Galway
Dear Deputy Marian Harkin,
I am writing to you on behalf of many postgraduate researchers currently residing in Ireland, facing significant challenges due to the unavailability of accommodation and prohibitive accommodation costs. These challenges are severe for researchers living with their families and contributing significantly to the Irish community.
Postgraduate researchers are essential to the advancement of knowledge and innovation within Ireland. They provide impressive research services that benefit academics, industries, and the community. However, they do so with limited funding, often balancing the dual responsibilities of producing high-quality research outputs while supporting their families. The high cost of living and lack of affordable housing put immense pressure on these researchers, ultimately affecting their wellbeing and ability to contribute effectively to their field of research.
The current situation is unsustainable. Researchers struggle to find suitable accommodation and are forced to share it with other families. The resulting stress from the combined pressures of financial insecurity, the responsibilities of the families, and the high expectations from their supervisors not only threatens their mental health but also threatens the success of their research outcomes.
Providing affordable and accessible housing options specifically for postgraduate researchers and their families is crucial. This could involve policy changes to prioritise affordable housing allocations for academic researchers, allocate separate funding for accommodation or the development of new accommodation facilities dedicated to this group.
As a politician, how do you propose that the Government can support researchers to get them into better financial security? Do you think these researchers should be able to contribute as taxpayers so that their time in Ireland contributes to and is taken into account when it comes to their permanent residency, as is the case in other European countries?
I kindly ask you to consider the urgency of this matter and to take action.
Yours sincerely,
Ayaz Ahmad
Independent TD Marian Harkin’s response
Dear Ayaz,
Thank you for your question. It is clear that you and many of your postgraduate colleagues are struggling financially and in trying to maintain work-life balance. While I know you are based in University of Galway, I spoke at length to Dr John Bartlett, head of research at ATU Sligo, who provided me with further insights as to the important contribution postgraduate research students make to Ireland, and he echoed many of the issues you raised.
First, I think it is very important to recognise that postgraduate research makes a significant contribution to knowledge and is a critical part of the nation’s intellectual infrastructure and intellectual property.
Regarding housing, due to the extreme scarcity and often exorbitant cost of suitable accommodation, I believe that specific accommodation needs to be earmarked for postgraduate students in any new student accommodation that is being built and also that colleges should work to source suitable family-type housing for their post graduates.
Regarding the cost of living, the student research grant was never intended to support a family. While there are no agreed grant rates, there is a move towards a stipend of €25,000 p/a which should be a minimum amount and, given the recent increase in the cost of living, €28,000 p/a is a more realistic figure. Furthermore, when a postgraduate student brings their family, we should allow their spouse/partner to work. One crucial point is that research students should never be expected to undertake tasks in any college such as tutoring or demonstration unless they are paid for that work. A proper code of conduct should be drawn up to ensure this or a change in legislation if necessary. Such a move would, I believe, contribute to a better work-life balance and a little extra income.
I understand that postgraduates in Ireland benefit from the qualifications they receive in an English-speaking country and that makes them very desirable employees globally, but equally Ireland as a society and economy gains significantly from their research. Funding bodies, colleges and legislators have a responsibility to ensure decent terms and conditions for those who come here to pursue their research.
- Marian Harkin is independent TD for the Sligo-Leitrim constituency
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‘The Emerald Isle has become a grass island, devoid of biodiversity’
Dayle Leonard, student at University of Galway
Dear Minister Ryan,
As a PhD student in zoology in the University of Galway, I would like to highlight the state of the protection and enhancement of natural habitats in Ireland.
For thousands of years, Ireland was home to thousands of species of trees, shrubs, ferns and mosses, feeding hundreds of species of arthropods, birds and mammals. Extensive cutting from the 17th century onward, for shipbuilding and cattle grazing, has transformed the Emerald Isle into a grass island, devoid of biodiversity. And very little has been done by Government to try to reverse this trend.
Rewilding is the only way to reconstruct and maintain the integrity of our ecosystem before it is too late.
From the expanses of Killarney to the glens of Diamond Hill in Connemara, Ireland showcases the outstanding beauty of its national parks. Yet, within these same protected spaces, animal grazing, invasive species, gorse fires and illegal dumping still occur.
I am not blaming our park rangers – The National Park and Wildlife Services (NPWS) is given few resources and support to conduct their mission. After all, the NPWS has been constantly moved from one governmental department to another, and is now part of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. NPWS is an orphan child, destined to fail by being moved around different foster families through no fault of the people tasked to carry out its work.
My childhood was wrought with talk of climate change and how it’ll be my generation that needs to amend the status quo. If this ineffective approach to policy continues, I am afraid that may not come to pass.
Action is needed. Alongside empowering the National Parks and Wildlife Service and giving them the ability to manage national parks as they should be, new policies should be introduced; from ceasing coniferous plantations to creating spaces for rewilding. A simple solution could be the banning of replanting conifers and replacing them with native trees. Or provide incentives to landowners across the country in planting native tree spaces. Only when these are done can hope be given to future generations that our island can remain as the Emerald Isle.
Mise le meas,
Dayle Leonard
Eamon Ryan’s response
Dear Dayle,
Thank you for writing to me. The need to protect our natural habitats, halt the destruction of our rich biodiversity, and at the same time support sustainable communities and livelihoods is what spurred myself and many of my Green Party colleagues to first become community activists and then public representatives.
I share your concerns. However, I also believe that the work of the Green Party and particularly my colleagues Ministers Malcolm Noonan and Pippa Hackett over the past four years has really helped to transform and reform how we manage forestry, land use and biodiversity in this country.
Our forestry model to date has far too often delivered the wrong kinds of trees in the wrong places, managed without regard for some of our most precious natural ecosystems. We need many more trees to sequester CO2, but we need the right kind of trees along watercourses to help our water quality and provide wildlife corridors, and we need native woodlands for habitats. We also need conifers to provide wood for construction so that we can replace steel and cement in our buildings, and we need to ensure that our most sensitive natural habitats are undisturbed by tree planting.
We are incentivising people like never before to establish native woodlands, small and large. We are supporting the establishment of productive forests, but we are now insisting that there is space for nature and broadleaves. We are also incentivising agroforestry and for the first time ever we are paying farmers for appropriate rewilding and the enhancement of scrubby areas. Perhaps most crucially, ecological input now plays a far greater role in where trees are planted. We are no longer allowing planting in our most sensitive habitats, like our precious peatlands, or where there are endangered species.
Malcolm has totally transformed the National Parks and Wildlife Service, more than doubling its funding from €28 million to almost €70 million and increasing its staffing from 350 to 540. He also set up a Biodiversity Officers Programme, up and running across almost every local authority. He has established two new national parks and has massively increased investment and resources across all of them. Malcolm and I also worked closely to ensure that the critical Nature Restoration Law got over the line, setting targets to restore 20 per cent of the EU’s land areas and 20 per cent of our sea areas by 2030. We intervened at many critical junctures to ensure its survival and ultimate success, despite powerful political headwinds. Looking to the future here at home, the Greens fought to establish a €3.15 billion climate and nature fund – a first-of-its-kind war chest for nature restoration, water quality and climate action.
We need more zoologists, ecologists, foresters, wildlife rangers, marine biologists and climatologists to alert us to the needs and fragilities of nature and to keep us focused on the reality that we can only thrive when our natural world thrives too.
- Eamon Ryan is Minister for Transport and a former leader of the Green Party
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Would my life be better under Labour?
James Ruane, first-year University College Dublin student
Dear Deputy Ivana Bacik,
I’m a first-year student of English and History in UCD. I live at home with my parents, I have a part-time job and I plan to work throughout my time in college to help support myself. How could my life change for the better under the policies of a Labour-led government?
Is mise, le meas,
James Ruane
Ivana Bacik’s response
Dear James,
Thank you for the email and congratulations on getting through the Leaving Cert and on achieving a place in first year English and History at UCD. I am always happy to receive correspondence from students as I became involved in politics myself through student activism. I was elected TCDSU president in 1989-90; only the second woman in that position. We had a very dramatic year, taken to court and threatened with prison by the then powerful conservative organisation SPUC (Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child) under the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. That denied women access to abortion in Ireland, and even the right to get information on where to seek abortion abroad. We only avoided prison because of strong legal arguments made in the High Court by our wonderful lawyer, later elected President of Ireland – Mary Robinson.
Our case helped to change public opinion on abortion rights, and showed how the student movement can have a real impact in changing society. Students remained vital to the long campaign which finally achieved Repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018 – I was proud to be centrally involved in the campaign myself over many years.
In response to your question I am pleased to say that we in Labour have developed a range of policies that would if implemented really improve the lives of students. For example, we are campaigning strongly on the issue of funding for higher education. As a former academic myself, having lectured in law for many years, this is something I care about passionately. Labour has a strong track record of seeking increased state funding for higher education institutions, and we will continue to push for decent public investment to secure the future of our colleges and provide students with sustainable supports. We have also championed the cause of postgraduate researchers; Labour is the party of the trade union movement, so we are deeply committed to securing decent pay and conditions for all working in third level.
Although I note that you are living at home, you may also be interested in our policies on student accommodation and housing. Labour have consistently called for radical change in state housing policy to address the chronic housing disaster – lack of homes is the single biggest civil rights issue for this generation. We want direct state investment in the delivery of homes to rent and to buy, and a state construction company to provide housing at massively increased scale. We have introduced legislation to protect the rights of renters and have worked with USI to strengthen rights of students in digs – this would greatly improve the quality of life for many of your classmates in UCD and other colleges.
Finally, Labour has a proud history of working for a more equal and inclusive society – we’ve been centrally involved in human rights, civil liberties and LGBTI+ campaigns over many and of course more recently in the successful 2015 Marriage Equality referendum.
I hope this response is helpful, and again congratulate you on entering UCD, and on continuing the great tradition of student activism!
- Ivana Bacik is leader of the Labour Party and a TD for the Dublin Bay South constituency
These letters have been edited for clarity and length.
