THE protest by students and staff at the Cork Regional Technical College (RTC), who are campaigning for the college's status to be upgraded to an Institute of Technology, will be brought to the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown constituency of the Minister for Education, Ms Breathnach, today.
Some 3,000 students from the Cork college will deliver leaflets to homes in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown outlining the RTC's ease for institute status, and pointing out areas in which they claim the Minister has failed her own constituents in the provision of educational facilities.
The students will gather this afternoon outside the Department of Education, where a letter detailing their grievances will be handed in. The protest left Cork this morning in a convoy of more than 50 buses.
The students will also hold an open air meeting at which they will decide whether to return to lectures pending the outcome of discussions between Department officials and management at the RTC. With the support of staff in the college, the students - 4,000 full time and 6,000 part time - have been boycotting lectures as part of the protest.
According to Mr Matty O'Callaghan, president of the Students' Union at the RTC, the cost of staging today's protest will come to about £19,500. "We don't have the money to meet these costs and we would not be able to mount such a protest were it not for businesses and college suppliers in the region who have sponsored the fleet of buses," he said.
"There has never been a protest in the college like this. Everyone, including staff, management and students, is dedicated to achieving our goal, which is full Institute of Technology status for Cork," he added.
Tie said the Minister's decision to upgrade Waterford RTC to Institute of Technology status "has left us, effectively, in the second division, and we are not going to allow that situation to continue."
Tomorrow, further talks will take place in Dublin between management at the college and officials of the Department of Education. While Ms Breathnach has indicated that she is willing to listen to the views of the college authorities, there is no immediate sign that she is prepared to bow to mounting pressure in the Cork region.
The Students' Union has said it will run a candidate in the two Cork city constituencies at the next general election, and has threatened that, if necessary, it will re register the 4,000 permanent students at the college, enabling them to vote in Cork South Central.
"A protest vote of that size is not something that can be ignored lightly by the politicians," Mr O'Callaghan said, adding that if the issue was not resolved before the examinations which take place in May and June, the students would not sit them.