Pilot student accommodation project mooted for TUS Athlone

The prospect of Athlone being earmarked as a pilot location for Government-backed student accommodation has been raised by Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation Kevin Moran.

It follows a meeting on Monday with Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless by a delegation from Technological University of the Shannon to Dublin, led by Minister Moran.

Minister Moran organised the meeting to address what he described as critical student housing needs, particularly around Athlone. The high-powered delegation included Vincent Cunnane, President of TUS, Vice President Jimmy Brown, and Raphaela Kane, the new Chief Academic Officer.

During the meeting, both ministers recognised the strategic imperative to create additional student accommodation places in and around the Athlone campus. The Programme for Government includes a specific commitment to deliver on student accommodation and to support the technological universities in achieving this.

Minister Moran proposed that Athlone could serve as a pilot project to examine innovative approaches to roll out student accommodation at pace and at scale.

Minister Moran, in a statement, said Minister Lawless responded positively, and updated the delegation that he had recently brought forward a new design guide for student accommodation that allows more units to be built in less space without compromising on quality.

“The Minister for Higher Education said that he was happy to work with the team to devise a pilot of this nature and instructed his officials to commence preparations for delivering student accommodation for TU Shannon in Athlone as soon as possible,” Boxer's statement added.