Labour accused of bias against rural Ireland

The Labour Party has been accused of a bias against rural Ireland as it examines plans to include farm assets in means tests for college grants from next year.

Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley said this would rule out third-level education for thousands of children from farming families or those with self-employed parents.

“The average income of many farmers is less than €20,000 per annum.