THIRD-LEVEL EDUCATION:A MOTION to abolish third-level fees was referred to the party's central council on the recommendation of Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn.
Moving the motion, Pat Fitzgerald (Ballybrack, Dublin) said Niamh Bhreathnach’s decision as minister to abolish third-level fees in the 1990s was far-seeing at the time. However, there were unforeseen circumstances.
He said that walking from Ballybrack to Killiney meant passing a private secondary school where, at 7pm, there would be a line of Jaguars, Mercedes and Range Rovers waiting to pick up female students who were getting grinds.
“When legislation to abolish third-level fees was introduced, people who had money to pay fees transferred it to paying for grinds and private schooling to enhance their children’s chances of getting to university. This, delegates, is the law of unintended consequences in action.”
Mr Fitzgerald said there was an inequality of access to third-level education. “Instead of being decided by ability, it is being decided by . . . money to pay for private tuition.”
Labour, he said, believed in equality of access, with the State’s resources used for all citizens, not just those who were well connected or those with money.
Conor Quirke (UCD) said people from all walks of life had a right to education. “If fees were reintroduced, many people, including myself, would not be able to avail of third-level education.”
Mr Quirke warned against jeopardising one of the most important things introduced by Labour when in government to satisfy the EU-IMF-ECB troika.
A motion was passed, from Tallaght East branch, to withdraw the €90 million subsidy paid to private schools. Another motion was passed calling on the Minister to put in place an increased pupil-teacher ratio during the Government’s lifetime “in order to address this unfair subsidy of fee-paying schools”.
Patrick Nulty TD said there was a call to action for socialists to defend people Labour represented. “And that starts when people enter school and it finishes when they have a job and a pension.”
