The middle classes must be ready to accept radical reforms - such as the possible reintroduction of third-level fees - if they want to break the cycle of disadvantage in education, a leading educationalist said yesterday.
In a challenging speech, Mr Brian Mooney, president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, said the current third-level grant scheme was "patently unfair".
He also expressed scepticism about a total ban on the publication of school league tables as this could reinforce educational disadvantage.
On fees, Mr Mooney said existing student supports consolidates social inequality for another generation. There was, he said, a need for "a rebalancing of our support as taxpayers, towards those who are powerless in our society today".
Addressing his organisation's annual conference in Cork, he said he disagreed fundamentally with the notion of equal support for every student, regardless of social background. This, he said, "does nothing to tackle social disadvantage, but merely entrenches inequality for a further generation".
In order to break the cycle of poverty , we must, he said, be prepared to make some personal sacrifices. "We in the middle classes have all the instruments of power at our disposal. But we need . . . to target resources towards those who have no real power."
Mr Mooney asked: "Do we want to break the cycle of disadvantage and poverty in our society? If we do, we must be prepared to pay a price in proportion to our real individual wealth."
In short, he continued, "we must move the balance of the resources available to support third level towards those whose survival in the system is currently impossible for a whole range of social and financial reasons. If we want to live in an Ireland we can be proud of we must embrace short-term pain for long-term gain."
On school league tables, he said "the manner in which the media have published this information does no long-term benefit to our educational system; it merely confirms that social class is the main predetermined factor in educational success."
But he said he was sceptical about the demand by some to keep this information hidden. "I believe that to do so simply reinforces the present system, which leads to ongoing social disadvantage."
He said: "It is not sufficient to argue that information on educational attainment as currently crudely published should be concealed. We must find a way to identify those schools that require our collective support, other than by locating them at the bottom of a league table in a newspaper."