An Oireachtas committee has been told that students are sleeping in cars, couch-surfing with friends and commuting long hours in order to attend lectures due to the shortage of rental accommodation.

That is according to representatives of the Union of Students of Ireland who were before the Oireachtas Housing Committee this morning.

USI Vice President for Campaigns Michelle Byrne said educational inequality is worsening because those who are considering college are not pursuing their first choices, due to the cost of accommodation in urban areas.

The committee discussed a bill put forward by the Sinn Féin Deputies Eoin Ó Broin and Kathleen Funchion, which would allow the protections of the Residential Tenancies Act to apply to all students living in public and private student specific accommodation.

Earlier, Paul Dunne from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government assured the committee that the department is working on amendments to another bill which is being worked on by Minister Eoghan Murphy to address the problem of student accommodation.

Ms Byrne told the committee that almost one-in-ten students were registered homeless on the night of census 2016. She said couch surfers and commuters "are within the homeless epidemic that is happening".

She also said this week a student in a Cork college told her she was travelling from Dublin to Cork everyday to complete her Masters because she could not afford the block rent she was asked to pay in Cork for one term.

Ms Byrne said that block rent was sought upfront with a deposit, on top of fees of €14,000 in September and the student in question is paying for rent in Dublin.

The USI says students will not accept the current situation which is without adequate rights, rent caps and rent pressure zones,

Representatives said they would continue to campaign for the right to affordable and adequate housing for students and a housing system that will ensure them affordable secure housing.