The Department of Education has indicated there will be no increase in the number of places on Post Leaving Certificate courses in the next academic year, when PLC student grants will be paid for the first time.
An estimated 15,000 PLC students, most of whom are taking sub-degree courses at VEC-run schools and colleges, will be eligible for grants at the same level as third-level students from September.
However a circular from the Department to VECs has warned that "in general the number of places being allocated in 1998-99 reflects the respective enrolments in 1997-98" on PLC programmes.
"Accordingly, the Department is not in a position to approve new centres seeking to provide the programme for the first time." However the circular says there is "no intention" to "withhold approval" from any course in schools and colleges which already have a PLC programme.
The general secretary of the Irish Vocational Education Association, Mr Michael Moriarty, reacted angrily to the circular yesterday. "We were very pleased that the discrimination which existed in relation to PLC students was ending with the announcement from the Minister for Education last December that grants would be paid to PLC students," he said.
"But this seems to have been only grudgingly accepted by the Department of Finance if what we are seeing now is an attempt to cap the number of PLC students in receipt of grants.
"To do this would be to treat PLC students as less worthy and deserving of support than third level students. We will vehemently oppose any such attempt to discriminate against the PLC sector," he said, adding that he had written to Minister for Education, Mr Martin, to seek urgent clarification of the matter.
The education officer of the Union of Students in Ireland, Mr Malcolm Byrne, said both the Minister and the Department were committed to expanding the numbers in both further and higher education, and "clearly such a cap runs counter to that policy."
A Department spokesman said the number of people on PLC courses was "already at a very high level." The circular was to enable VECs to plan ahead so that new courses were not set up without departmental approval, leading to disappointment among students.
However, he said, if a VEC had a proposal for a new course in an area of skills shortages, the Department would look at it.
Post Leaving Certificate courses have been one of the major success stories of Irish education since they were introduced in the mid-1980s. There are currently around 21,000 students doing one or two-year PLC courses following the Leaving Certificate or a vocational training programme.
The present Minister has been particularly keen to expand PLC courses, particularly in teleservices and other IT-related sectors, because of the rapidly-growing demand for people with technician and other sub-degree qualifications in the computer and electronics industries.
Last November he announced £20 million in capital investment for the PLC sector as part of the £250 million Education Investment Technology Fund. This was aimed at increasing the number of PLC courses in the VEC sector and elsewhere, and the number of apprentices.