UCD Students' Union is claiming to have "called the bluff" of the college's administration, on foot of the news that the president of the college will appear before the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts on May 28th to answer questions on UCD's finances. A request from the union for a breakdown of the allocation of monies earned from exam fees met with a "stonewall" response, according to the union, with the college replying that it was ultimately only answerable to the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Oireachtas. Students union officers say they decided to take the college administration at its word. They began to lobby deputies on the Committee of Public Accounts to summon a representative of the college authorities to Kildare Street.

Officers are now briefing Committee of Public Accounts members on questions they would like asked of the college president, Dr Art Cosgrove, when he appears later this month.

UCD students are charged £50 to defer their exams and £103 to repeat them. The union wants to know where this money goes after it leaves the students' pockets.

They will also attempt to have questions asked by Oireachas members about the allocation of the capitation fee charged by the college, which increased in all colleges from £150 to £250 last year.

A spokesperson for UCD said that under the new universities legislation, all college presidents become their colleges' accounting officers and that, consequently, there was nothing unusual about the president of UCD being asked to attend the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts.

He rejected the students' claim that their pressure had led to the invitation to Cosgrove.