Student sit-in at department over third-level fees
Around 15 students entered the building on Merrion Street Upper at about 11am and staged a sit-in protest on the main stairway for more than two hours. A similar number held a demonstration outside.
No arrests were made as the protesters agreed to voluntarily leave the building around lunchtime after a senior civil servant accepted a letter of protest handed in by the group. The protest was organised by a group called Free Education for Everyone (FEE) which is described as a national grassroots group of students and college workers.
One of the protesters, UCD student Julian Brophy, described the Government’s education cutbacks as shameful. Donal Fallon, a student from NUI Maynooth, said the protesters were opposed to the re-introduction of fees in any form: “The actions of the Government will force many young people out of this country.”
FEE previously organised a protest at a function attended by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan involving over 100 students at UCD last October. Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe has said he will shortly present a range of proposals on a new system of third-level fees to the cabinet. However, he has said any new system will not be implemented until September 2010 and would only apply to new entrants.
But Mr O’Keeffe has hinted it could include the 40,000 students due to enter college for the first time this autumn.
