Third level students are planning a series of walkouts from lectures in protest at the lack of accommodation available for new and returning students.
The walk outs are planned for 13 October.
Union of Students in Ireland President Beth O'Reilly said the protests are intended to show that students "aren't taking this sitting down".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, they said that the situation regarding student accommodation has been a long-running issue, but said that it is "exponentially worse" since the pandemic.
Many student leaders and colleges have said the struggle for student accommodation could be far worse this year that anything previously.
On-campus beds are fully booked out at some institutions, while private rented accommodation has evaporated in many areas since the onset of Covid.
This will be the first year that students are back on campus for the full academic year since Covid.
The USI President added: "Students are a lot more desperate for accommodation because they know they won't have the ability to fall back on distance learning. We don't have any online lectures this year."
Some students will face commuting up to five hours to get to college.
"It's a very difficult time to be a student," they said, adding that the Government has not made any commitments to changing the structure of how student accommodation works.
"They haven't looked at the idea of rent caps to ensure that accommodation is affordable for students.
"They haven't looked at introducing digs legislation in order to ensure that students that are in digs accommodation receive tenancy protections."
This would make digs a lot more appealing for students, they said.
Members of UCD Students' Union last week started a 'digs drive' appealing to home owners to rent rooms to students.
They were appealing for members of the public to open up their homes to students.
