Thousands of students walked out of class at 11:11am today to call on the government to do more to help students during the cost of living crisis.

They say students are being "priced out of education" and that the recent budget announcement was "not nearly enough" to support struggling students.

Representatives from students' unions across the country spoke to Lunchtime Live about the issue and what they expect the government to do about it.

"Tokenistic"

TU Dublin Students' Union President Brian Jordan says that students "feel the government continuously neglected to enact lasting change".

He described the €1000 decrease in fees as "tokenistic".

"That doesn't do anything for students who have already deferred. It doesn't tackle the actual accommodation crisis."

"We have a huge amount of students who are trying to get an education, which is you know, in my view, a basic human rights and yet they can't because they just cannot afford to move to Dublin or they can't afford the tuition fees, they can't afford accommodation charge."

He claims that some students are having to choose between food and electricity and that there has been an 'exponential' increase in the number of students asking the union for support.

SUSI

Asha Woodhouse, University College Cork Students' Union President said the lack of action "reflects a government and society that don't value education".

From next year, SUSI recipients will receive and increase in their grant payments, but students' unions say this won't be enough.

"There's parents who are having to take out loans to put their kids through college and that's just no way for people to be living their lives", said Woodhouse.

She says that while housing supply isn't an issue in Cork, rents have risen significantly in the last three years.

Unions are calling on the government to build and subsidise student accommodation "that they can actually afford".

'Harrowing stories'

Woodhouse said the union has heard many "harrowing stories" from today's protestors.

"There was one student who's working in a hotel that has loads of students living in it, you know, it's just ridiculous."

"There are students that can't afford their bills, and you know, they've already spent their budget for the month and we're not even near the end of the month yet."

Jordan said that there are students commuting to Dublin from Mayo and Kerry because they can't afford to stay in Dublin.

"We've heard more and more anecdotal stories in the last few weeks alone than I would have heard kind of previous four years of my degree."

He says one student is paying €200 to stay in a hotel once a week so that they can attend a mandatory lab.

Most lecturers are not providing recorded lectures anymore for students who can't attend class in person.

Listen back to the full conversation here.

Main image shows students gathered in Trinity College's Front Square following the walk out. Picture by: Emer Moreau