Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I join Senator Carroll in his remarks on the victims of abuse at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. We must pay tribute to the hard work done for them by the support group which has done tremendous work in recent years. I ask the Minister to seriously consider the request made.

The Leader is aware from the briefing he attended in Buswells Hotel yesterday that many students have still not received their grants and are being denied access to college facilities such as libraries and laboratories because they cannot pay their registration fees in the absence of their grants. It might be the end of November before students in County Meath are informed if they will receive a grant. I ask the Leader to use his offices to make representations to the colleges and ask them to allow the students concerned to access facilities while they await the payment of their grants.

In UCD, because of the moratorium on staff recruitment, disabled students have not been provided with assistants who help them to read notes and access lecture halls. Disabled students are unable to go to college because the assistants have not been approved. Will the Leader make representations to UCD to have a system put in place to allow applications to be assessed as soon as possible?