As a new academic year begins, many students are struggling to find suitable accommodation.
Up to 130,000 students are settling into third level colleague courses. At Dublin City University (DCU) many new students experience their first taste of college life. Tempting them is a variety of college clubs and societies ranging from the DCU Fianna Fáil Society to the Father Ted Appreciation Society.
For the uninitiated student life can be bewildering, but for many the biggest problem they are facing for the coming academic year is the serious shortage of student accommodation.
Many landlords are leaving the business opting to convert their flats back into private homes. As a result, students are finding it difficult to compete with professionals for flats,
We've no house, nowhere to live.
With lectures almost upon them, many students are sharing with friends. Two students staying at a friend’s house report a far from ideal situation,
Swapping the couch between each other every second night.
In one case 10 students are sleeping on the floor of one house. Clearly for students to achieve academically this is not acceptable.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 2 October 1996. The reporter is Carole Coleman.
