The Minister for Education has been asked to urgently clarify whether or not he intends to re-introduce third level education fees.
The call came yesterday from Opposition politicians who said the thousands of students who will be getting their CAO offers today need to be reassured that they will not be paying fees within a year.
Attempts by the Department of Finance to re-introduce third-level fees were vigorously rejected recently by the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, during negotiations on the forthcoming Estimates. It is understood the issue will be reviewed if the Exchequer position worsens dramatically.
The Fine Gael spokeswoman on education, Ms Olwyn Enright, warned the Minister yesterday to "lay off" low and middle income parents who want to send their children to college.
"The squandering of the nation's prosperity by Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats is not a justification to punish parents who want their children to have a decent education," she said.
Ms Enright said it was outrageous that the Minister for Finance now saw students and their parents as "cash cows" that will bail him out through the re-introduction of third level college fees.
"Cash-strapped families have already been hit by the hike in college registration fees, which will cause real hardship for many students this year," she added.
The Labour Party TD, Mr Eamon Gilmore, yesterday called on Mr Dempsey to state immediately if he intended to re-introduce fees. He said the Minister must end his "kite flying" and reassure thousands of students who must decide on CAO offers today.
"The timing of this revelation by the Minister is irresponsible coming as it does on the eve of the distribution of CAO offers when many students will make life-altering decisions.
"Students have already been hit by a 70 per cent hike in college registration fees, while rents and the cost of living for students are spiraling out of control," said Mr Gilmore.
Third-level fees were abolished by the former education minister, Ms Niamh Bhreathnach, in 1995. The rainbow government defended the move by saying it would help to increase access for all to third level.
Despite this, the third level sector remains dominated by the middle and upper classes. Last year, a Higher Education Authority report found that school-leavers in some middle-class areas were 10 times more likely to go to college than poorer areas.