A proposal by the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, to reintroduce third-level college fees has generated the first significant public disagreement between the Government parties and may undermine the Minister's own authority and influence within Cabinet.
There are indications that he may be forced to greatly modify his initial plan to include a broad swathe of people across the middle and upper classes within a fee-paying system, costing many thousands of euro per year, so as to fund access to third level for disadvantaged students. Now it would appear - given the reluctance of the Taoiseach to deal with specific questions from the Opposition parties on the subject in the Dáil yesterday - that the fees element of the Minister's initiative may wither away.
This is not the first occasion that the enthusiasm of Mr Dempsey for reform has outrun his political judgment. His plans to end the dual mandate linking local councils and the Oireachtas had to be abandoned in disarray two years ago when Independent TDs threatened to bring down the last, minority government. Since then, that legislation has been passed. But, unlike the current initiative, it had been party policy and was provided for in the Programme for Government.
The first indication that third-level fees might be reintroduced came last September in an Irish Times interview when Mr Dempsey spoke of diverting the income from such fees to raise grants and other supports for disadvantaged students. However, decisions by the Government to scale back funding for third-level education, along with a 69 per cent rise in registration fees, caused the Opposition parties to regard the proposal as a general funding arrangement. They were joined in opposing the measure by the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, who said it had not been agreed in the Programme for Government.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, indicated to the Dáil last week that only the very well-off were likely to be affected. But such a modification, which would have retained the principle of fees while making the proposal almost useless as a fund-raising measure, was also rejected by the Progressive Democrats. As the controversy continued, Ms Harney insisted that if money was to be raised from the very rich, it should be done through general taxation and not through college fees. And with the Progressive Democrats committed to keeping taxes low, or reducing them, such an approach was clearly not on her agenda.
Only one-in-five voters now believes the Coalition is delivering what was promised on education. In those circumstances, the Cabinet is unlikely to approve Mr Dempsey's blueprint for the reintroduction of fees when he brings forward his proposals next month.
Reform of the higher education grant scheme that benefits large farmers and the self-employed at the expense of PAYE families may help to save Mr Dempsey's blushes. But his more ambitious funding plans appear to have run into a political brick wall.