Students oppose third-level fees

PROTEST:THE REINTRODUCTION of third-level fees would do "nothing for education and nothing for families", the president of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) Shane Kenny said yesterday.

Addressing a gathering of about 100 students outside the Department of Education in Dublin, Mr Kenny said third-level education must be funded through taxation and not fees.

The protest was called in response to suggestions by Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe that fees for third level might be reintroduced.

It began at The Spire on O'Connell Street, where members of Young Labour, the Young Greens and the USI carried placards with such slogans as "Say No To Batty policies" and "No Grants, No Education, No Economy".

President of the Labour Party Michael D Higgins said the issue went beyond fees.

"Anyone who has any sense of the real world knows that more and more it is required as a basic level that you have a third-level education. It is anti-democratic and anti-republican to suggest that access to it would be restricted to those who could afford to pay for it."

He described as "facetious" arguments by some university heads that fees were needed to adequately fund the institutions, and "bogus" the contention that Irish universities were unable to compete with British and US ones due to funding shortfalls.

"They have lost the spirit of the university. The most important thing in a university is to be a teacher. They have let down scholarship, reduced staff morale, creativity and have lost the ethos of learning."

In a separate protest outside the Department of Health and Children, a group of teenagers succeeded in securing a commitment for a meeting with Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews.

Up to 20 young people protested at the lack of attention afforded to them in the Dáil na nÓg, a youth parliament which convenes for one day a year.