Disadvantaged still won’t get to third level
What will the children of these groups think of the politicians who opposed Education Minister Noel Dempsey’s scheme to divert resources from the well-off to the poorer classes who might have aspirations to go to university.
OFCD figures from the Household Budget Inquiry, published recently, stated that one-third of all social transfers go to the middle class, not to working class or social welfare households.
To add insult to injury, the means test for university grants is loaded against the PAYE sector.
The self-employed can produce accounts so as to qualify for grants because of the advantages they enjoy regarding disclosure of income, etc.
Finally, what the Minister offered at the end of the debate will exclude most children of the lower income groups from third-level education.
While it is impossible to over-emphasise the importance of education, particularly for those groups and areas that have no tradition of participating in it, no young Irish person should be denied the opportunity to achieve personal and professional fulfilment for purely economic reasons.
William J O’Brien,
Móin Óidhean,
Glen of Aherlow,
Co Tipperary
