READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–14, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.
The students’ problem
(A) The college and university accommodation crisis in Ireland has become
‘so chronic’ that students are being forced to sleep rough, share a bed with
strangers – or give up on studying altogether.
(B) The deputy president of the Union of Students in Ireland, Kevin
Donoghue,(9) said the problem has become particularly acute in Dublin. He
told the Irish Mirror: “Students are so desperate, they’re not just paying
through the nose to share rooms – they’re paying to share a bed with
complete strangers. It reached crisis point last year and it’s only getting worse.
“We’ve heard of students sleeping rough; on sofas, floors and in their cars and
I have to stress there’s no student in the country that hasn’t been touched by
this crisis. “Commutes – which would once have been considered ridiculous –
are now normal, whether that’s by bus, train or car and those who drive often
end up sleeping in their car if they’ve an early start the next morning.”
(C) Worry is increasing over the problems facing Ireland's 200,000 students
as the number increases over the next 15 years. With 165,000 full-time
students in Ireland – and that figure expected to increase to around 200,000
within the next 15 years –fears remain that there aren’t enough properties to
accommodate current numbers.
(D) Mr. Donoghue added: “The lack of places to live is actually forcing school-
leavers out of college altogether. Either they don’t go in the first place or end
up having to drop out because they can’t get a room and commuting is just
too expensive, stressful and difficult.”
(E) Claims have emerged from the country that some students have been
forced to sleep in cars, or out on the streets, because of the enormous
increases to rent in the capital. Those who have been lucky enough to find a
place to live have had to do so ‘blind’ by paying for accommodation, months in
advance, they haven’t even seen just so they will have a roof over their head
over the coming year.
(F) According to the Irish Independent, it’s the ‘Google effect’ which is to
blame. As Google and other blue-chip companies open offices in and around
Dublin’s docklands area, which are ‘on the doorstep of the city’, international
professionals have been flocking to the area which will boast 2,600 more
apartments, on 50 acres of undeveloped land, over the next three to 10 years.
(G) Rent in the area soared by 15 per cent last year and a two-bedroom
apartment overlooking the Grand Canal costs €2,100 (£1,500) per month to
rent. Another two-bedroom apartment at Hanover Dock costs €2,350 (almost
£1,700) with a three-bedroom penthouse – measuring some 136 square
metres – sits at €4,500 (£3,200) per month in rent.
(H) Ireland’s Higher Education Authority admitted this was the first time they
had seen circumstances ‘so extreme’ and the Fianna Fáil party leader,
Michael Martin, urged on the Government to intervene. He said: “It is very
worrying that all of the progress in opening up access to higher education in
the last decade – particularly for the working poor – is being derailed because
of an entirely foreseeable accommodation crisis.
Questions 1-8
Reading Passage 1 has eight paragraphs, A–H.
Choose the most suitable paragraph headings from the list of headings and write the correct
letter, A–H, in boxes 1–8 on your answer sheet.
1. Cons of the commuting
2. Thing that students have to go through
3. Commutes have become common in Ireland nowadays
4. Danger of the overflow
F
5. Cause of the problems
6. Pricing data
7. Regression
8. Eyeless choice
Questions 9–14
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 9–14 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
9. The accommodation problem in Ireland is especially bad in Dublin.
TRUE
10. Commutes are considered ridiculous.
11. The number of students in Ireland is not likely to increase in the future.
12. Due to the opening of the new offices around Dublin, the number of local restaurants will
go up significantly over the next 3 to 10 years.
13. The rent price went up by 15% last year.
14. Michael Martin stated that crisis could have been omitted if the government reacted
properly.
