5,000 march in colourful student protest

MORE than 5,000 students took to the streets yesterday to hammer home their bitter opposition to the reintroduction of third-level fees.

In an unprecedented show of strength and solidarity, students from all over Munster marched through Cork city centre vowing to “unite and fight” against any attempt by the Government and Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe to reintroduce fees or double registration fees.

The city came to a standstill as the protesters made their noisy way through the streets carrying banners, blowing whistles, banging drums and roaring, “No way, we won’t pay.”

The students carried placards saying, “No to Batty Politics” and “Batman is Robin Students” and “F**k the Fees.”

The protest started at Cork Institute of Technology at Bishopstown before making its way along College Road past University College Cork, along the quays and up through St Patrick’s Street onto Grand Parade.

Thousands of students from UCC and CIT were joined by hundreds of others from Limerick, Waterford and Tralee in a campaign called Munster Students Against Fees.

UCC Students’ Union president Cal Dioliún said it was a great day for the students of Munster and Ireland.

“We have demonstrated today that the students of Munster are a force to be reckoned with. We are not going to take the reintroduction of fees lying down. Over the coming months, we have to keep the momentum going and if there are any more protests, to join them,” he said.

Addressing the rally at Grand Parade, Union of Students of Ireland president, Shane Kelly, said the Minister for Education thought students had a spare €8,000 in their pockets to pay for fees.

“We believe that education should be based on potential and potential alone, not on how much money you have in your pocket.

“Today, in this place, we start the fight against fees. We are telling Minister O’Keeffe we will fight this every step of the way and we will win,” he said.

Mr Kelly said the students were saying no to fees and the taxing of their education and yes to a fair and equitable education system.

He accused the Government of failing to invest properly in education over the past decade and now trying to use students and their families as scapegoats

President of CIT Students’ Union, Gearoid Buckley, said the students of Munster had sent out a strong message to the Government that they would not put up with fees and would unite with students all over Ireland to continue this fight.

Mr O’Keeffe is insisting his plan to reintroduce third-level fees will only affect the better-off in society.

He has said no detailed proposal will be made until a forensic audit of the €25 billion spent annually on third-level education is concluded.

College fees could be reintroduced as early as 2010 if the education minister’s controversial proposal is accepted by Cabinet.