Trinity College Dublin is "directly complicit" in making third-level education unaffordable for its students, the Students' Union President has claimed.
László Molnárfi was speaking to Lunchtime Live amid the Trinity College Dublin Students' Union (TCDSU) protest, whereby students are blockading the entrance to the Book of Kells throughout the day today as part of a ‘Freeze the Rents’ housing protest.
It is in response to the college’s decision to raise on-campus student accommodation rents by 2% this year – which Mr Molnárfi called "absolutely appalling".
"The truth is that 93% of students find Trinity accommodation unaffordable," he said.
"Rents can be as much as €12,000 a year ... rents have increased by 25% since 2015.
"What this means is that students are being priced out of education.
"Education is becoming unaffordable and our college is directly complicit in this because our college is following the same for-profit neoliberal model of provisioning housing as the Government did."
Trinity College students have clashed with tourists as they blockade access to the Book of Kells this morning, as part of a ‘Freeze the Rents’ housing protest. pic.twitter.com/HZ1woviSX9
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) September 13, 2023
Mr Molnárfi said the yearly slight increases in rent prices are putting "additional strains" on students who are financially struggling.
"What this will mean practically is that there's an even bigger likelihood of students dropping out [and] deferring," he said.
"These are students who have joined college, and who are passionate about their courses, and unfortunately, because of no fault of their own, now, they will have to quit their dreams, quit academia."
Adam, a fellow protestor, said the protest is part of a series of efforts from TCDSU to guarantee lower accommodation prices for students.
"Last year's Students' Union produced an open letter to the college, which had six demands," he said. "The first demand of which was that they wanted a freeze on all Trinity-owned accommodation."
"That demand was not met, and in the letter, they promised to escalate action – so, here we are, we're escalating."
Tourists
Mr Molnárfi said TCDSU also intend to protest against the Government – but prefers to focus specifically on Trinity to challenge where they are spending the income they receive from rent prices.
"We will be protesting this Government – this Government that has pursued neoliberal economic policies for decades," he said.
"The reason we are protesting college is because college is also complicit in this same system ... the income that is being brought into college – what is the income being spent on?
"It's not being spent on making sure that staff are on good contracts, it's not being passed on student counselling services ... so we have to target both the college and the Government."
Mr Molnárfi said he is not protesting "against" tourists by not allowing them into the Book of Kells – but rather is trying to "hit college where it hurts".
"That's the reputation and that's their finances," he said.
"The Book of Kells brings in €50,000 a day for college, so we are directly hurting their finances."
'Can't afford'
One listener, Dan, said those who "can't afford" to go to Trinity College should just choose another university.
"There's plenty of other options for people that are more affordable than others," he said. "You can't be always blaming it on the Government."
"The harder people work, the better they get by ... people just don't want to work hard enough to get by."
Mr Molnárfi said this was an "outrageous" point of view on the issue.
"I would like to condemn the elitist statements made by the previous speaker that people who can't afford to go to college shouldn't go to college," he said.
"Education is a human right – it's not a luxury."
You can listen back here:
