Free Education for Everyone, NUI Maynooth welcome the concessions won by the Green Party in relation to education, but encourage students to continue the campaign against education cutbacks and remain cautious of this governments policies in relation to education. The Green Party have voted with Fianna Fail on education cuts in the past, and there is no reason to think they will not do so again in future. The decision of the Green Party rank and file to vote in favour of NAMA for instance shows a willingness to go against public feeling and to side with the Fianna Fail party if their own seats at the high table of government in Ireland are at risk.
In recent years, we have seen the registration fee rise year after year, hitting the ridiculous sum of €1,500 this year. Meanwhile, our universities are currently struggling as a result of massive cutbacks. Many tutorials have been scrapped, student services are being slashed, and education workers are working under insane levels of stress. The government saying “there will be no fees” to us, while a small victory, does not offer any guarantees in relation to the registration fee, or further cutbacks at primary, secondary or third level.
We reaffirm our opposition to the appointment of Bertie Ahern T.D by the NUI Maynooth School of Business and Law. At a time education is under attack, this decision makes a mockery of not just us as students- but our families who face unfair levies (not least the dubious Pension Levy imposed on the Public Sector), our lecturers who are struggling against cutbacks, and all workers on campus, from those working on minimum wage to those working in administration. To allow a Fianna Fail T.D, who has spent less than ten days in Dáil Éireann since ‘stepping down’ as Taoiseach to lecture in an Irish University, and be wined and dined by the University as he no doubt will be, is quite frankly lunacy.
Fees or no fees, education is still under attack. Thank you to the lecturers of our university who offered support, to local people who encouraged us, and to the students of NUI Maynooth who got involved in the campaign. That campaign must not fold, but rather- grow. Blockades like those staged by FEE UCD against Brian Lenihan sent a clear message to the government on fees, and student opposition to this government was made perfectly clear. Now, the registration fee in this country can not now be permitted to rise further, and become a sort of ‘backdoor’ fees system.
This is a victory for students in Ireland, but this is just the start.
W Carney
Free Education for Everyone NUI Maynooth
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