Current third-level students ‘will not be liable for fees’

STUDENTS already taking part in third level courses will not be liable for fees or any loans system that the Government might introduce, Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe has indicated.

He also told the Irish Examiner he would be waiting until after next month’s supplementary budget before he recommends any changes to the free fees system to his cabinet colleagues.

His officials have spent the last few months preparing a report on various options for possibly reintroducing tuition fees, which were abolished in the mid-1990s.