Students call for Croke Park deal to be renegotiated

Delegates at the Union of Students in Ireland national congress have called for the renegotiation of the Croke Park agreement.

“The agreement has insulated the public service,” union president Gary Redmond said, “which, in the current economic climate, is unrealistic and is clearly damaging the quality of higher education in Ireland.” He added: “Up to 80 per cent of college funding is being spent on pay, and that means any cuts we have had has to come out of the remaining 20 per cent, and student services and frontline services get disproportionately affected.”

Students voted 126 to 34 in favour of the motion at yesterday’s congress. It was also to vote on how the union would recommend the education system be funded. However, the vote has now been deferred to allow delegates to consult with, and be issued mandates by, their student bodies.

President Michael D Higgins is due to address the congress today, but the absence of Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has been received as a snub by the union. A spokeswoman for Mr Quinn said the Minister was facing into one of the education calendar’s busiest periods, with teaching union conferences approaching, and that he had to decline the invitation as a result.