Sir, - I think they should stop complaining! And I'm not talking about the nurses. I won't presume to write about the nurses. I'm a student, and I have no firsthand experience of the nurses' plight. However, I feel I can justifiably write about the students.
The Students' Union organised a march to the Dail on Wednesday, October 27th. They had three main complaints:
They have to pay approximately £300 at the beginning of the college year.
Only 8 per cent of students have accommodation in university residence.
Student grants are half the value of social welfare grants.
Each of these complaints is as valid as it is insignificant.
In the US, going to university is an expense few can automatically afford. Most students are forced to take out loans to be repaid over the next lifetime or so. In the UK, college fees are so expensive that only those in the higher tax brackets are not rapidly declining into uneducated oblivion. In Ireland, everyone is given a fair chance. On a worldwide scale, £300 is a relatively small price to pay for third-level education. But students persist in protesting.
In Europe, 25 per cent of students have been provided with purpose-built student accommodation. It would seem, therefore, that Irish students, only 8 per cent of whom have accommodation in university residence, have been given a raw deal. It would seem that way, until one realises that everyone in Ireland has problems finding suitable accommodation, and that students are special only because they are the only ones to have been provided with any purpose-built accommodation at all!
As for the grants - did I really understand the student's demands? Do they really believe they are entitled to the same amounts as those on social welfare? The majority of social welfare recipients are supporting sizeable families. The majority of students are supporting a drinking problem. But students continue to complain.
As they marched indignantly for their selfish demands, the image of idealistic, world-saving students began to fade. On these green isles, the words saints and scholars have nothing in common but the `'s". - Yours, etc.,
Sarah McInerney, La Rochelle, Christchurch, Dublin 8.