The student population of the seven universities in the Republic remains dominated by the middle and upper classes, according to new figures.
The statistics from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) show that the sons and daughters of professionals are over 15 times more likely to enter college than students from lower socio-economic groups.
It is also striking how the number from a farming background (1,735) vastly exceeds those whose parents are farm workers (158).
According to the figures, only 159 students from a household headed by an unskilled manual worker entered university in 2001-2002. In sharp contrast, more than 2,400 students from a higher professional background registered.
These figures from the HEA, the most up-to-date available, appear to show that the abolition of college fees in 1995 has done little to widen access. Last month, the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, secured a €44 million package to help boost access after his proposal to bring back fees collapsed.
The HEA figures track the social background of students entering the seven universities, two teacher-training colleges and the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) for the first time in 2001-2002. The figures also reveal how female students now greatly outnumber their male counterparts in the colleges. Over 10,000 female students registered in 2001-2002 compared to 6,600 male students.
The figures show that initiatives to widen access by successive governments and by the universities appear to be having little impact. But one university source said that colleges could "only do so much", given the lack of any serious investment in access programmes.
The figures from the HEA are based on the old socio-economic groupings which have now been updated by the Central Statistics Office. But they still provide a reliable overall indicator. Only a small portion of the €1.3 billion allocated to the third-level sector each year is earmarked to widen access.
In the Dáil recently, Mr Dempsey said he hoped a new National Office for Equity of Access at third level would be in operation before the beginning of the next academic year. The office, he said, would "facilitate the aim of increasing third-level access . . . in partnership with my Department, the third-level institutions and other stakeholders and agencies".