Students march to highlight inadequacies in funding

INADEQUATE grants are forcing students to drop out of college courses despite Government claims that third-level education is a priority, students’ leaders said yesterday.

Hundreds of third-level students in Dublin and Cork took part in protest marches yesterday at high registration fees, inadequate grants and cutbacks in third-level funding and access schemes. A small group of protestors occupied the head offices of Fianna Fáil at one stage during the afternoon.

“Students are growing tired of being simply ignored. It is claimed that we live in a society that provides free third-level education, yet thousands of students are forced to leave their courses because they cannot afford to continue,” said Union of Students in Ireland (USI) president Ben Archibald.

He said the recent report of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Irish third-level education made it clear that Ireland is falling way below the required funding for the sector.

“We continue to appear in an embarrassingly low position in the OECD league table of investment in this area, with many colleges and universities struggling to make ends meet, and some having little option but to slip further into the red,” Mr Archibald said.

He said the protests were intended to put pressure on the Government to live up to its commitments in relation to education.

In Dublin, students marched from Dáil Éireann to the Department of Finance, before making their way to the head offices of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats.

The Cork protestors walked from University College Cork to City Hall.

USI deputy president Rory Hearne, one of about 20 people who spent more than an hour inside Fianna Fáil headquarters, said the main goals of the campaign are the abolition of the €750 student registration fee and the extension of maintenance grants to more students raised to social welfare levels. Another target is to have enforced cuts at third-level institutions reversed.

“These cutbacks are being felt most acutely in areas of support for the most economically disadvantaged students, such as the cut to the Back to Education Allowance,” he said.

“Bertie may have reshuffled his pack, but USI and the students of Ireland have not been fooled. Replacing an unpopular education minister will not deter us from the goals set out at the beginning of the year,” said Mr Hearne.

USI will lead further protests in Limerick and Waterford today in its campaign to ensure the Government does not brush issues of concern to students under the carpet.