An action group has called on parents to ignore fee increases for students at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) School of Music, which it claims could lead to a loss of 30 per cent of music students and teacher redundancies.
The Waterford Music School Action Group is protesting against fee increases of 20 per cent, on top of the 12 per cent increase already imposed last year.
These increases affect the first and second level students attending the school on a part-time basis.
Ms Ann Woodworth, head of the WIT School of Music, said yesterday pupils were already paying an average of €480 per annum for tuition.
This compared with €280 at Cork Institute of Technology and €440 at Dublin Institute of Technology.
If the new fees are introduced, parents will have to pay almost €580 per child which will make the school more expensive than even the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
Ms Woodworth said that the fee increases would have a detrimental effect on music in Waterford city and throughout the south east of the country.
"If you charge too much, people can't afford it," she said. "Some families have two or three children attending and with the fee increases, it will become impossible for them."
Mr Kevin O'Carroll, joint chairman of the Waterford Music School Action Group, said that the fall in numbers could potentially lead to the loss of 8 to 10 teachers.
Meanwhile, Dr John Ennis, head of the WIT School of Humanities, said the school of music had fallen victim to WIT's budget problems because it had no senior head of school.
"This comes out of a scenario of desperation within the institution. People are looking around as to where they can make cuts and some people will look at what is the line of least resistance.
"At the moment the School of Music has no structured head of school to defend its interests."
According to Dr Ennis, both CIT and DIT receive more funding per head of student population than WIT, although WIT is one of the biggest institutes of technology in the State with a population of over 6,000.
Mr Colm Long, the Teachers' Union of Ireland branch secretary at WIT, said that although the TUI has had no official communication from WIT on the matter, the TUI would be opposing any decrease in teacher numbers.
"There is no way we are going to stand for it. We are having a meeting later this week and the bottom line is we have to protect our members."
Spokesman for WIT Mr Neil O'Sullivan also confirmed that no new first or second level students would start at the School of Music this September.
However he insisted that there would be "gradual recruitment" over the year.