It appears that even Foundation Scholars are facing difficulty finding on-campus accommodation for this year. Many applications were not marked as ‘scholars’ during the Campus application season last Trinity term, thus sacrificing their automatic entitlement to rooms.
The issue was not resolved until mid-June, by which time some room offers had been made to other undergraduates, postgraduates and students on sabbatical with entitlements. This occured in conjunction with a number of room-offers being withdrawn by the Accommodation Office. In at least one case a deposit on the offered room had been made, which has yet to be refunded. Executive Accommodation Officer Ms. Caroline Kelly denied any such offer had been withdrawn by College, stating “this would never happen”. TCD have yet to confirm the withdrawal of room offers had anything to do with the Scholars’ accommodation mix-up, on which the Communications Office refused to comment.
Room offers were taken away as late as September, leaving newly unsuccessful applicants just days to find a place to live in one of the most expensive places to rent in Ireland Competition for digs or house-shares is indeed fierce in the Dublin City Area, and campus accommodation and Trinity Hall only cater for approximately 10pc of the student population.Accommodation Officer Anthony Dempsey commented on his “regret of the late notice”, whilst confirming the withdrawal of room-offers had taken place under “exceptional circumstances”, contrary to other sources.
The Registrar of Chambers Dr. Emma Stokes justified the Accommodation Office’s recent decision to strip Trinity affiliates of their campus rooms, saying “every year the demand for rooms far exceeds the supply.” In this case it was the promise of rooms that far exceeded the supply, much to a few applicants’ misfortune.
