Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Education, Thomas Byrne, has called on the University of Limerick to do the right thing and refund rent to students who had to leave campus accommodation early due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Deputy Byrne said that UL should be following in the path of other Universities who are refunding pre-paid rents to students who have left.
He explained, “It’s unfair to expect students who have returned home to continue paying rents. Many of them have lost their part-time jobs in hotels or restaurants and are already at a financial disadvantage.
“More often than not students pay by semester for their accommodation on University campuses and in many instances, there are many other bills built into the cost of the accommodation such as bin charges, WiFi, and gas and electricity bills.
“Allowing students to claim back their deposits early is not enough, in fact it’s a pretence, students would be due those deposits anyway at the end of the semester.
“UL is completely out of step with the sense of camaraderie we have seen from the other Universities in the midst of this crisis. They need to step up and refund students,” he concluded.
