To An Bord Pleanála,

We, as students and friends of Trinity College Dublin, wish to ask for a reversal of the decision given to the Oisin House student accommodation development. 

We live and study in the centre of Dublin. We also live in a time of crisis- where students have to make do with boxroom bedrooms and compete with the rest of the rental market for affordable accommodation.

Trinity College has 17,000 students, many of whom come from outside Dublin. In 2014, there were only 10,287 bed spaces* specifically for students in Dublin- and there are 80,000 students in total in the Dublin region. The Students' Union operates an accommodation advisory service which sees 3,000 students contact it for help to find accommodation. Demand rises and supply is low- therefore prices soar. We need more beds- that is why this decision is so galling for us. 

The appeal cited that the building  'would constitute a disorderly, incoherent form of development with an overscaled building'. If you were to examine the panic first-time students face when attempting to find accommodation, you would understand why such developments- with as many beds as can be fitted- are necessary. 

On-campus places help our students, particularly those students with disabilities. It also helps retention of students. We face a crisis and such decisions do not help- they hinder the efforts of the student movement to provide students with something so basic as a suitable place to live. We beg you to reconsider this decision. 

*HEA, Report on Student Accommodation: Demand & Supply, 2015, 
http://www.hea.ie/sites/default/files/student_accommodation_report_310815.pdf