Madam, - Ger Lennon's point is well made (May 21st): we do need serious reform to widen access to third-level education for lower-income families. The coalition of Fianna Failure and the Regressive Democrats, however, is not the one to implement this reform. Even if fees were re-introduced, we simply could not trust this Government to invest the revenue in educational reform.
The sudden belief that fees are the solution to widening access is intimately bound up with this coalition's disastrous fiscal housekeeping. Otherwise, they would have set their sights on the issue of educational reform when the State coffers were overflowing. They did not care then and they do not care now.
The Government does not even have a cohesive policy on a matter as important as this. We are living in very sad times, because we cannot trust our elected officials, and they seemingly cannot even trust each other. - Yours, etc.,
DECLAN CASHIN,
Callan Road,
Kilkenny.
Madam, - For the Government to reintroduce fees for third- level education at this stage would be an extraordinary step. Most middle-income families would be be faced with large fees for which they now have no financial provision.
With the abolition of fees, those savings which had been slowly accumulated by prudent parents over the years have since been diverted to other family uses, such as keeping their heads above water despite the huge increase in the cost of living in Ireland.
The claim that only very rich families only will be eligible to pay fees is ludicrous. The return from such small numbers would hardly justify the cost of administering it. Once again middle-income families will be subjected to a grossly unfair system of means-testing to assess eligibility. The PAYE worker will again be discriminated against. We must be active and vocal in our protest and not sit silently by while the Government loads on yet another tax by stealth in the effort to make up monies lost through its mismanagement of the economy. - Yours, etc.,
ANNA O'KEEFFE,
Raffeen Hill,
Co Cork.
Madam, - If Noel Dempsey feels so passionately about disadvantage, why does he continue to share in the collective responsibility of this ultra-right-wing Government? Surely the real issue is that tax levels are too low to meet our social and infrastructural needs. - Yours, etc.,
EVELINE VAN IJSSEL,
Lisnagry,
Co Limerick.
Madam, - The question isn't whether those with lots of income should pay college fees for their children. The real question is whether those with lots of dosh are paying a fair amount of tax.
Apparently not. They can use any number of devices to pay "sod all" tax.
How different it is for many retired citizens who have two pensions and are paying tax.
It's farcical looking at the antics of this Government which brought in a low tax-base over the past six years and is now short of funds for the most basic services.
I suppose the next accusation from Fianna Fáil will be to blame the Progressive Democrats for the mess, as Bertie Ahern sings "You made me do it" to Mary Harney. - Yours, etc.,
KATHRYN MULREADY,
Calderwood Road,
Dublin 9.