OIREACHTAS LOBBY DAY

UCD Students' Union sabbatical officers and members of the executive attended the USI lobby day on Wednesday October 13^th at Buswells Hotel, Dublin.

The annual event organised by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) is a chance for student representatives to highlight key issues directly to politicians.

UCD SU Paul Lynam said "It was a very successful event with meetings taking place with over 100 TD's and senators from all across Ireland.

This year's lobby of the Oireachtas had three main targets to highlight including capping the registration fee, grant problems and graduate unemployment.

The registration (reg) fee now stands at €1500, up from £150 in 1996, and if it continues to rise, it will make college unaffordable for many students.

As it stands, it is badly means tested; there are so many students who are not on the grant that the reg fee is causing severe financial problems for.

Bank of Ireland have said it already costs €44k to get a standard degree so any further increases will push a large number of students out of the third level system

Highlighting the serious flaws in the current grant system was the second issue of the day, in particular how low the current grant is.

The grand was cut by 5% in the last budget with rumours of another cut imminent in the December budget.

The amount of people applying and getting the grand will increase, while the budget will decrease. These factors could combine to see the grant drop below €3,000 and students who are most in need of financial support are being targeted unfairly by the current government.

UCD SU also drew attention to the huge disparity in grant processing costs between all the county councils. For example, in Westmeath the cost per successful application is just €82.79, compared to €484.25 in North Tipperary.

Finally, we addressed graduate unemployment and the urgent need for the government to put forward a tangible policy and adopt the USI ideas and solutions."