Quinn accused of reneging on fees promises
He told students at the University of Limerick on Thursday that during the lifetime of the Government there would be further increases in the contribution charged for third-level students, beyond the €2,250 fee coming into effect next autumn.
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) said the increase to €3,000 that he suggests is likely would mean a 50% rise since he took office a year ago, despite promises by him as Labour Party education spokesperson.
He has already suffered serious political damage since announcing a €250 increase this year in last December’s budget, after signing a USI pledge days before the February 2011 election that he would not support any increase in fees if he was in Government.
USI president Gary Redmond said this was in addition to Labour Party promises to reverse the previous year’s €500 increase in fees and a Fine Gael pre-election commitment to freeze the charge at €2,000.
“Minister Quinn and this Government have now clearly abandoned any pretence at even trying to keep their promises to students and families that they made prior to the last election. While in opposition, the minister decried successive student fee increases.
“However, now fees of €3,000 per year are on the minister’s agenda. This betrayal will be long remembered by families already struggling with the already considerable costs of accommodation, books, travel and more,” he said.
A Department of Education spokeswoman said the minister had made it clear on numerous occasions that further savings would have to be made in the education budget in the coming years.
“In that context, a further increase in the level of the student contribution in future years cannot be ruled out. This is one of the options that was included in the department’s Comprehensive Expenditure Review report published last December,” she said.
However, Mr Redmond said a decision to increase fees would accelerate the number of young people forced to leave the country and sentence many more to long-term unemployment.
More than 40% of third-level students have their fees paid as they qualify for support under the Department of Education’s grants scheme.
l An article in yesterday’s Irish Examiner stated incorrectly that the Early Start pre-school programme in more than 50 disadvantaged schools was being cut as part of Budget 2012. Although the Department of Education proposed ending the programme in its submission to the Government’s comprehensive spending review last September, Early Start is still being operated.
It is separate from programmes that preceded the DEIS scheme for disadvantaged schools, from which 428 posts are proposed to be cut in September.
A list of the 433 schools, obtained by the Irish Examiner, is available online at: http://exa.mn/30
