Local papers often have accommodation to rent sections which are useful. This year there are also webbased ways to find accommodation, including findahome.ie which allows you to locate accommodation according to price, area and type. As for on-campus accommodation, interested students should already have their names on a college list. A lot of student unions publish lists of accommodation these days. Some of them even vet landlords and refuse to include any with racist or other unacceptable attitudes.
Most colleges issue first-time students with guidelines on accommodation.
Threshold, the housing advice centre, publishes two extremely useful leaflets - Renting for the First Time and Renting a Home From a Private Landlord. Between them, the two leaflets cover everything from where to find a flat to tenants' rights. Louise Mullen is services co-ordinator with the Dublin branch of Threshold. If you've never rented before, try to look at a few places to get a feel for it all. If you're looking at flats in August, anticipate the winter months.