Bleak - that's how the deputy director of the Higher Education Equality Unit (HEEU), Jacqui O'Riordan, describes the provision of childcare facilities in our third-level institutions.

"Even less encouraging," she says, "is the fact that a number of institutions have no plans to provide any kind of childcare support. "Generally the absence of any such development plans arises out of a perceived lack of need and because of costs associated with the provision of buildings for creche facilities. Given the recent focus on childcare, it seems surprising that such provision was thought unnecessary."

A HEEU report, Who Cares in the Campus?, launched last week, shows that only 12 out of the 40 third-level institutions surveyed provide childcare facilities of some kind.

This provision is concentrated in the university sector, which accounts for 80 per cent of all provision. However, the report finds that in three-quarters of the institutions that do offer childcare facilities, places for the children of staff or students cannot be guaranteed. Many of these facilities operate waiting lists - containing between three and 88 children.

None of the facilities offer evening provision for children. Four of the colleges, however, provide after-school programmes, while half provide summer playschool schemes.