Minister red-faced over fees mistake

EDUCATION Minister Batt O’Keeffe has conceded his embarrassment over the publication of inaccurate figures on how much money the introduction of college fees would raise for the state.

But he also gave another indication that any family earning less than €120,000 a year would probably be exempt from paying fees for their children’s third-level education under any proposals he might bring to Government.

The leaked details of figures produced at the minister’s request by his friend, economist Dr Noel Woods of University College Cork, suggested that anything between €220 million and €530m a year could be raised from fees, depending on the income level at which colleges could begin charging families.

But it emerged this week that the figures were miscalculated and the likely revenue would instead be between €55m and €135m annually — one-quarter of the original projections.

“Obviously it’s an embarrassment, there’s no point in saying otherwise. When I read the figures, I thought they were high but I didn’t question their accuracy at the time,” said Mr O’Keeffe.

“It’s just one of those things, it happened, and we move on. In the scheme of things, it isn’t of major importance given there are other documents being prepared,” he said.

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) and Department of Education are compiling separate projections of the likely income from a return to fees.

The minister has also asked a tax expert to examine how the incomes of self-employed people and farmers could be best means-tested.

Mr O’Keeffe said he had asked Dr Woods to estimate the revenues accruing from charging fees to families earning from €200,000 down. But he said he believes €120,000 would be too low a figure at which to ask families to pay college fees in the present circumstances.

“We’re going to have to look and see in the other reports what fees are going to bring in,” he said.

The minister also conceded that his review of the free fees scheme, in place since the mid-1990s, is being done in the context of last year’s Programme for Government not having any plans to reintroduce fees.

“Any mechanism that I might put to Government would be something the Government itself would have to decide, rather than it being my decision,” he said.

Mr O’Keeffe said he has had “peripheral” discussions on the issue with cabinet colleagues but that the timescale before any proposals would be considered was not certain yet.