Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

The new unified scheme will commence in the academic year 2012-13, in other words, local grant awarding bodies will be dealing with it for the coming year.

Senator Denis Landy raised the issue of the loss of telephone signals on new motorways. This issue should be raised with the network providers. I will convey the Senator's concerns to the Minister.

Senator Mary White called for a debate on alcoholism and the abuse of alcohol, with particular reference to pricing. We will have a debate on mental health issues in two weeks time in response to requests from several Members. The Senator will have an opportunity to raise the issue of alcohol abuse and suicide in the context of that debate.