Minister should heed expert advice

WITH debate raging on the politically explosive question of college fees, the Government’s move to re-introduce these highly controversial payments has prompted a further demand that people who can afford to pay them should be made do so.

Significantly, this proposition comes from Dr Mary Meaney, the new chairperson of the Council of Directors of the Institutes of Technology, the body representing the heads of Ireland's 13 hi-tech colleges.

As he reviews the contentious fees question, Education Minister Noel Dempsey would do well to heed the advice of leading academic figures working at the coalface of the country's third-level education system.