Student leaders yesterday said there is a risk of "student shanty towns" being created here in three years' time when the first of up to 20,000 students face eviction from low-rent "Section 50" housing.
Section 50 relief, introduced in the 1999 Finance Act, allows property developers to build student properties in return for generous tax reliefs over a 10-year period. The scheme has frequently been used by high income earners to reduce their tax liabilities.
But Union of Students in Ireland (USI) president Colm Hamrogue said properties presently classified as Section 50 student accommodation will move into the open market in three years' time and their rents will soar to open market levels "almost overnight".
These students would then be forced into dilapidated or overcrowded accommodation within the low-rent sector, USI believes.
Mr Hamrogue was speaking at a protest on Dublin's Grafton Street to highlight the union's concerns yesterday afternoon.
"The end of Section 50 could force 20,000 students to sleep on floors or exceed fire safety regulations for maximum occupancy, yet the Government can avert this nightmare scenario by renewing Section 50 or legislating to provide thousands of new low-rent student residences," he said.
The USI intends to make the matter an "election issue" by informing students around the country of the situation, and encouraging them to ask their local politicians how they plan to address the matter, he added.
However, a spokeswoman for the Department of Finance said there are no plans to extend the Section 50 tax break. She said the 10-year tax relief period commenced from the date of the first qualifying lease, not from when construction work on them was begun. This meant that the 10-year period "should not start to run out until about 2010, at the earliest".
"It is expected that the vast majority of the accommodation provided will revert to college authorities at the end of the 10-year period for which the incentive applies, as investors sell to college authorities, who will continue to rent to students as part of an integrated residential campus strategy," she said.
However, it remained unclear yesterday who will fund the purchase of such properties by college authorities.
A recent review of property-based incentive reliefs by Indecon International Economic Consultants had found that 15,000 new bed spaces have been created at a net loss in tax revenue of some €159 million, the Department of Finance spokeswoman added.