Third-level fees not on the agenda, says Hanafin

The reintroduction of third-level fees is not on the Government's agenda, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin reiterated yesterday.

She maintained that the Government was committed to funding all sectors of education, including third level, but had no plans to bring back college fees.

"It is not part of the Government's agenda to reintroduce third-level fees. Fianna Fáil always said that we would never have got rid of them, but now that they are gone it is very difficult to bring them back," she said.

Speaking on RTÉ radio's This Weekprogramme, the Minister said that people had expectations about how they would spend their money planning for the future and third-level fees were not now part of that.

Ms Hanafin said that there was no reference to the issue in the Programme for Government as it outlined what would be done rather than what would not be done.

Ms Hanafin said that more State funding would be provided for every sector of education and that included third level because education was always a priority for Fianna Fáil.

"If fees were reintroduced, they could not delude themselves into thinking that they would get the same grants from the taxpayer that they now get in lieu of fees. They won't," Ms Hanafin warned the universities.

"There is no way they are going to double their income by reintroduced fees, which is why we are not going to do it," she said.