THE GREEN Party has rejected charges that Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan back-tracked on opposition to the introduction of college fees.
Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe is to brief Cabinet colleagues tomorrow on ways to ensure third-level education is properly funded, including college loans.
The system could lead to students graduating with a €20,000-plus debt, but they would allowed several years to repay it and interest charges would not exceed 3 per cent.
Following Labour charges of backtracking on a manifesto promise, led by former party leader Ruairí Quinn, a Green Party spokesman said: “Minister Ryan’s position on the fees issue is that a number of options are being presented and he will look at all options.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s Week in Politics on Sunday night, Mr Ryan said: “We don’t believe in paying fees at the point of entry when you go into college. There’s a whole range of options as to how we fund our universities but that’ll be our policy position, that we don’t think fees are the right way of doing it.
His use of the phrase “at the point of entry” prompted Labour’s Mr Quinn to allege that the Greens are pulling back from their general election manifesto position – one shared by all other parties at the time – on third-level fees.
Fine Gael’s education spokesman Brian Hayes did not join with Labour criticism, and it is understood that he believes that Mr Ryan did not move from past Green policy on the issue.
Mr Hayes helped shift party policy away from opposition to fees to one in favour of a graduate tax paid for ten years after students start to earn salaries.
Privately, senior figures in Government believe that a student loan scheme can be successfully promoted with voters, particularly if it relieves parents of up-front spending now and does not leave their children with unmanageable debts thereafter.