Mr. Cormac McSweeney:

There is a student assistance fund that is managed through the Higher Education Authority. All the institutions get some funding through that. There is a mechanism locally for how we organise and assess the applications. The students' union is also involved in the process of reviewing the applications because its welfare officer is very clued-in to the sort of issues which are being raised with the union by students. We have our own hardship funds to try to support students as they go through and the students' union also has an engagement in overseeing them with people in the finance office.