ALMOST 40,000 students will be unable to continue in higher education if the Government moves to bring back fees, student leaders warned yesterday.
The president of the Union of Students in Ireland, Shane Kelly, said the latest proposals by Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe would have devastating consequences for the future of the country.
Mr Kelly said the return of fees will decrease the numbers of students able to access third-level education and force thousands of students out of higher education and on to the social welfare queues.
Labour’s Ruairí Quinn said he would fight tooth and nail to oppose any proposals on fees. He accused Fianna Fáil of cynically taking advantage of the adverse situation in our public finances to bring back fees.
Mr O’Keeffe will bring his proposals on fees to Cabinet within the next two weeks, just before the April 7th budget.
Mr O’Keeffe said the new charges would apply only to new entrants to third level next year. However, he has still to decide on the critical issue of the threshold above which families become liable for payment.
A number of options, including fees, loans and graduate taxes, are under consideration.
Yesterday, Mr Kelly stated: “Higher education in Ireland is already one of the most expensive in Europe. The Minister’s plans will force thousands of students out of higher education and into social welfare offices.”
He continued: “The students and parents of this country will not be held responsible or be made scapegoats for a decade of underinvestment in our education system.”
Mr Quinn said tens of thousands had benefited from the abolition of fees by Labour Education Minister Niamh Bhreathnach in 1995. “Now Batt O’Keeffe wants to wind back the clock. Fianna Fáil has always been suspicious of the no fee model of third-level education, and they are now cynically taking advantage of the adverse situation in our public finances to bring back fees – something they’ve wanted to do for years.”
Mr Quinn continued: “Minister O’Keeffe’s view of who can afford to pay fees is probably very different to mine, and his view next year may be radically different to his view this year. In other words, once fees are reintroduced, the income barrier will inevitably drop from one year to the other, until we arrive at a situation where all but those on the very lowest of incomes will have to pay fees.
“I have no doubt that there is a funding crisis at third level, but slapping fees on families is not the way to address it. The resources for our education system, from junior infants to graduate school, should be sourced from the exchequer and should be funded by general taxation.
Mr Kelly said: “Any return of third-level fees in the current economic climate will only serve to make a very tough situation even worse.”