Thousands of students are expected to join protests in Limerick and Tralee today against growing costs and the proposed reintroduction of tuition fees for third level education.
Students from the University of Limerick, the Limerick Institute of Technology, the Limerick School of Art and Design and Mary Immaculate College will join forces for their march through the city centre. Meanwhile, a demonstration will begin at the Tralee Institute of Technology, progressing into the town centre.
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) have listed four demands to the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey. These are the abolition of the current €670 registration fee, the provision of more accommodation, increase in student grants to social welfare levels and medical card assessment for all over the age of 18.
"These demonstrations will serve as a warning to Mr Dempsey that students will not allow the Government to make them the subject of cutbacks," the USI said in a statement.
The USI estimates that the current annual cost of attending third-level education is over €5,000. If the tuition fees are introduced, this will rise to over €8,000, which will make the cost of further education prohibitive for thousands of people.