Students in UL will today vote on a package which will see security on their campus and in surrounding student areas significantly stepped up. Today will be the third in a series of extraordinary general meetings called by UL's students' union on the issue of campus safety.

The most recent meeting, which took place in November, was attended by nearly 1,000 students and was addressed by the college president, local authority members and representatives of the Garda Siochana.

At an earlier meeting, students voted to call "strike action" if the Garda presence around Castletroy and the number of security staff on campus were not increased. Since then the number of gardai patrolling student areas has increased noticeably and the students are at an advanced stage of negotiation with the college authorities about security arrangements on campus.

Union education officer Ciaran O'Hara says campus security is the single most important issue for Limerick students. "UL is well spread out and aesthetically that's very nice, but it means a trade-off in terms of security. There are a number of housing estates around campus that are 90 per cent populated by students, but were rarely patrolled by gardai. Originally we wanted closed-circuit television in those estates, to ease students concerns about their safety, but for the moment we've settled for increased Garda patrols in the area. "As a result of our meethigs we've gone from a situation where we used to see no guards in Castletroy to seeing them everywhere, and that's a good thing."

Astonishingly, O'Hara says there have been no complaints about the increased Garda presence from students who might wish their activities to escape the attention of the forces of law and order.

"The guards haven't been heavy-handed. For instance, some students feared that parties would be broken up if there were more patrols in student areas, but the police have been very reasonable and very co-operative."

According to USI welfare officer Siobhan Fearon, safety in campus is "an ongoing problem on a lot of student campuses. Often the only way to counteract it is to get the guards to patrol student-populated areas.

"Students have to take steps to look after themselves and be responsible as well. Students' unions do a lot of work in the first week of term advising their members not to walk home alone at night, to get a taxi home from late-night parties and to lock their houses at night. It's not just female students who are vulnerable to assaults - just as many male students are being attacked.

"Campuses tend to feature lovely bushes and hedges - which look very decorative, but provide the perfect place for muggers to hide. Unions often have to battle even to ensure that the college grounds are well lit.

"There's always been a fear among students when increased Garda presence is mentioned that the guards are going to be heavy-handed, but we've found them to be very clued-in on campus life and pretty fair when it comes to dealing with students," Fearon says.