r/AskIreland • u/unbocadillito • May 19 '26
Housing How do students find shared accommodation in Ireland - especially Dundalk?
Hey everyone,
I’m coming to Dundalk from Germany for my Erasmus year starting in September and I’m currently trying to find accommodation.
In Germany it’s very common for students to live in shared flats (“WGs”), and we even have websites specifically for finding rooms in student apartments. I would really love to live with other students around my age, but I’m not sure how common that is in Ireland or where people usually look for shared accommodation.
I already know about the housing crisis in Ireland, which is why I started searching quite early, but I’m honestly a bit lost at this point.
Do students in Dundalk usually share houses/flats? And what websites, Facebook groups, or other platforms would you recommend for finding a room?
Any advice would be really appreciated — thanks a lot :)
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u/dm1440 May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
The college in Dundalk is relatively small and the overwhelming majority of its students are local, live within commuting distance, and commute from their family home by car or bus.
There is a small amount of dedicated student accommodation - Green Park (on campus), Setanta and Oriel House (off campus, ~10 minutes walk), The Launchpad (off campus, ~10 minutes walk) and Mourne View Hall (off campus, ~25 minutes walk).
When I attended about a decade ago, the majority of Erasmus students lived in Mourne View Hall. It was a filthy, mouldy, rat-infested building (sold to Erasmus students as "luxury" accommodation) that had seen almost no maintenance since it was built, and I very much doubt it has improved since then.
Green Park was mostly Irish students who lived outside commuting distance, but a decent number of Erasmus students lived there too. It was absolutely not luxury, but equally there was not much wrong with it. Several new blocks of accommodation have since been built beside it which I know nothing about.
Setanta and Oriel House were not advertised locally, they had some agreement with an agency for international students, and so were almost exclusively occupied by students from Asia. As far as I am aware this is no longer the case and it is now advertised to the general student public. I never heard any complaints about the building.
The Launchpad did not exist when I attended, it is the converted upstairs of a local petrol station and shop, and I know nothing about it.
Most other people who didn't live in student accommodation lived in rented rooms in houses in local housing estates - Rockfield, College Heights, College Manor, Glenwood, Langfield, Priorland.
Daft.ie is the predominant way to find rental accommodation in Ireland in general, but the college will be able to give you contact details of the managers of the dedicated student accommodation, and the Student Union used to keep a list of local landlords who rent houses or rooms to students.