Ireland comes last in a survey looking at the amount of on-campus student accommodation available in five English-speaking countries. The survey, compiled by USI, arises from the Government's commission investigating the private residential sector, which looked into such areas as rent capping and security of tenure but did not examine student housing as such. USI compared levels of on-campus student accommodation and their cost. Ireland's figure of 5 per cent of third-level students catered for in on-campus accommodation is paltry beside the Australian and Canadian levels of 12.1 per cent - and positively minute compared with the British level of 28 per cent.

These levels seem to come at a price for students, however: self-catering accommodation in Britain also has the highest cost, with a figure of £2,171. Even allowing for a weak Irish pound, this is still higher than the Irish figure of £1,582, which is the middle of the group.

Overall, it seems Canadians get the best of both worlds, having the second highest level of on-campus accommodation and the second lowest cost.