Madam, - Am I missing something?
So far, the current debate about the rights and wrongs of reintroducing third-level fees has largely avoided the central fact that the individuals most affected by these proposals are independent, adult citizens of this State.
The Minister for Education seems to believe that these young adult citizens are chattels of their parents, and not valued, independent citizens with duties, obligations and rights of their own. Is it any wonder that our younger citizens are totally dissociated from and disenchanted with the political process.
Our young citizens are entitled to be assessed independently of their parents' ability to pay third-levels fees. Any decision regarding charging fees must be based on this individual's ability to pay, not the circumstances of their relatives.
The proposal to introduced so called student loans would also introduce a new inequity for our younger citizens. Take, for example, two recently graduated young doctors or engineers, or whatever, setting out on their careers.
Both will have precisely the same prospect in relation to future earnings, yet the Minister is proposing that one of these will begin their career burdened with a debt to the Government of say €50,000 while the other will be free of any debt. This is indeed a strange view of equity.
The third-level students of this State are being treated by this Minister like children, and by this Government.
It is time they showed that they are not children any more and made their voices heard. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN MATTHEWS, Sean O'Carroll Street, Ardee, Co Louth.
Madam, - Research has consistently shown that social class appears to be an overwhelming, yet unacknowledged, influence on participation in third-level education in Ireland. The student body studying at the most prestigious faculties - law, architecture, medicine etc. - at university (as opposed to other tertiary institutes) is drawn from the higher social classes in disproportionate numbers. Not surprisingly, the bulk of these students have attended fee-paying secondary schools.
Ultimately, all taxpayers fund these students' education. The government currently funds both their fees (in reality a fraction of the course costs) and the remaining subsidies necessary to cover all costs.
Yet the vast bulk of taxation revenue comes from the PAYE sector, whose children are dramatically under-represented within the prestigious sectors of tertiary education. In essence, the underprivileged subsidise the education of a social élite.
Mr Noel Dempsey's proposal to introduce a scaled fee, dependent on choice of course and institute, and to use the financial resources released by this measure to support less affluent students is a courageous attempt to redress the balance.
Given that a third-level education is considered a passport to future financial security and that their parents have sufficient resources to have already paid for secondary schooling, can we not expect our affluent students to endure the burden of a loan for their education? If we believe in education as a liberating experience, rather than a means used to re-impose elitist structures on Irish society, then we must all support Mr Dempsey in his initiative. - Yours, etc.,
GER LENNON, Kilfinane, Co Limerick.