Fees return unlikely to get Cabinet approval
He said tuition fees will be considered as part of an overall review of higher education spending, but that any proposed charges would only apply to families who could afford to pay them.
The Green Party, which has two ministers, John Gormley and Eamon Ryan at the Cabinet table, said the introduction of third-level fees is not part of the Programme for Government.
A spokesperson said no formal communication has taken place between the coalition parties on the issue and that it is not party policy to reintroduce fees, but she conceded that the matter would be discussed if raised at Cabinet.
Progressive Democrats leader Senator Ciaran Cannon also outlined his opposition, saying reintroducing fees is not the way to keep Ireland competitive.
“The Government will need to be a little more innovative and creative in coming up with a solution, and a simple re-introduction of fees at any income level, we believe, would be a major retrograde step,” he said.
The sole PD cabinet member, Health Minister Mary Harney said she would wait to see Mr O’Keeffe’s proposals before commenting.
According to education sources, however, the likelihood is that any review of higher education spending could take until 2010 to complete and will eventually recommend the status quo because higher education funding is already adequate.
Mr O’Keeffe was quick to point out yesterday that Government investment in higher education has increased 25% since 2005 to almost €2 billion this year.
The issue has been raised on the back of growing public concern from third level heads about what they consider to be cuts in per-funding student in recent years.
Most university heads have called for fees to be reintroduced to help redress their budgetary issues, although their representative body was restrained in its welcome of the minister’s comments, ahead of meetings with him next month.
“We are very concerned at the prospect of substantial cutbacks in Exchequer support for higher education and its implications for equal access. It’s important that any examination of how the sector is funded looks at both Government and private funding together and the appropriate balance between them,” a statement said.
Labour Party education spokesman, Ruairi Quinn, who was Finance Minister in the coalition with Fianna Fáil which abolished fees, said the move had opened up third-level education to tens of thousands of low-income students.
“It would be short-sighted and short-termist to respond to the funding crisis by imposing what would essentially be a tax on those hoping to get a degree,” he said.
Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes pointed to the fact that all three government parties went into the last election opposed to fees being reintroduced and copper-fastened this in the Programme for Government.
However, Mr O’Keeffe stressed that all commitments in the programme were predicated on 4.5% annual economic growth.
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