Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. I wish to thank the Deputy for giving me this opportunity to outline the Department of Education and Science's position on the provision of supports to students with disabilities who wish to attend higher education.

A fund for students with disabilities is administered on behalf of the Department by the national office for equity of access to higher education, which is a unit of the Higher Education Authority. The purpose of the fund is to provide required assistance and equipment to students who have a disability to enable them to access, participate and complete their course of study. Support under this fund is available to any student who has specific support needs arising from a disability. It is available to students who are enrolled on a full-time course in a further or higher education institution.

I am pleased to report that approvals under this fund have increased significantly in recent years. For example, in 2003-04 a total of 1,499 students were approved for support from a total allocation of €5.8 million. In 2008-09 the number of students approved for support increased to 3,844 with the total allocation increasing to €11.7 million. In 2008-09, 179 deaf or hard of hearing students in further and higher education benefited from the fund for students with disabilities. The total amount of the benefits to these students amounted to approximately €2 million. Among the students to benefit were eight deaf or hard of hearing students in Waterford Institute of Technology. The number of students with a disability enrolled in higher education continues to increase. In 1998 it was estimated that slightly more than 1% of all undergraduates were students with disabilities. Recent data available from the Higher Education Authority indicated that 4.2% of first-time enrolments in higher education in 2007-08 were students with a disability.

Applications for support from the fund for students with disabilities are made to the National Office for Equity of Access by the institution on behalf of the student. Students must supply appropriate documentation relating to their disability for approval. Funding is made available to the institution, which in turn puts in place the various supports required by the student. Common supports required by students who are deaf or hard of hearing include Irish sign language, note-taking and academic learning support. As an initial course of action, it would be advised that any third level students requiring support of this nature should contact the access or disability officer in the institution in question.

I understand that decisions on some applications made to the fund for students with disabilities for 2009-2010 are still being processed. Information on the fund for students with disabilities and on all other State supports available to students at third level is available from the HEA website, www.studentfinance.ie. I thank the Deputy once again for raising this matter.

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