In a new student safety initiative, the DIT students' union is offering personal alarms for sale to students at reduced prices. Thanks to the assistance of the director of the faculty of business in DIT Aungier Street, Paul O'Sullivan, and faculty administrator Therese Grogan, the students' union in the college has taken delivery of 60 of the devices and other DIT colleges are set to follow suit.

The devices, which are about the size of a pager, clip onto a belt or can be worn around the neck or wrist. The cord acts like a ripcord: when it is removed from the device, the alarm can be heard for a radius of half a kilometre. "It's not a nice sound," says Derek O'Shea, deputy president in DIT Aungier Street and USI's Dublin area welfare officer (pictured above with one of the alarms). "It will initially frighten an assailant and, secondly, it will draw attention from others in the area."

The students' union in DIT Aungier Street is offering the alarms for free - with a £1 deposit and a student card as security - to students who wish to borrow them on an occasional basis. It is eventually hoped to extend their availability to other colleges.