Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the measures in place to increase the participation rate of people with disabilities in higher and further education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34125/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The participation rate of people with a disability in higher education has improved significantly over the last decade. In 2004 the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD) recorded that there were over 2,700 students with a disability in higher education (about 2.4% of full-time undergraduates). This represents a major improvement from ten years earlier in 1994 when AHEAD found there to be just 400 students (about 0.5% of full-time undergraduates) with a disability in the sector.

The main measures which have underpinned this success are firstly the allocation to higher education institutions by my Department and the HEA of dedicated funding for the development of access and disability support services and secondly the resources for students allocated through the Fund for Students with a Disability. The purpose of this latter fund is to ensure that students with a disability have the necessary supports which enable them to fully access and participate in their chosen course of study, such as assistive technology and software, learning support initiatives, library services, transport, personal assistants, note-takers and sign-language interpreters.

The level of resources and the uptake by students has grown significantly in recent years. In 2000-01 €1.2m was allocated to just 512 students. In 2005-06 this had grown to over €8.1m being allocated to 2,032 students with a disability in further and higher education.