College fees 'should be reintroduced' to allow third-level education to grow

THE re-introduction of undergraduate fees is the only way to fund third-level education, delegates at the Dublin Economic Workshop were told yesterday.

The conference heard there was no reason why the taxpayer should generally have to pay for the third-level education of people who will subsequently benefit from it in terms of higher earnings.

"As the current free fee regime appears to have had little impact on the distribution of students by socio-economic status, it can no longer be justified on the grounds of increasing access."