29th September 2009
Student campaign group, Free Education for Everyone (FEE) is planning to planning to stage a blockade of Bertie Aherns appearance at a debate on the Lisbon Treaty, tonight at 7pm in UCD’s O’Reilly Hall. Following a blockade of Brian Lenihan by the group last September, Martin Mansergh, Mary Hannafin and Conor Lenihan were forced to pull out of other scheduled appearances at the college.
Ben McCormick, second year History student stated, “Bertie Ahern and the government constructed our economy like a house of cards. Now that’s it’s fallen apart, students are left to pick up the pieces for a lack of public investment in education. The reintroduction of fees or a loan system will negatively impact on students from lower socio-economic backgrounds entering third level education”.
Paul Stewart, second year arts student stressed, “Education shouldn’t be a debt sentence. The scarcity of part-time work and the lack of an adequate grant system means that many students are already in debt as they try to cover the costs of education. Heaping more debt on students in the form of fees will only make the situation worse. If the government are going to block our access to education, we’re going to block their access to our campus.
FEE is a grassroots campaign group which was started by students and staff in UCD in September 2008 to fight against the the reintroduction of third level fees, increases in the registration fee, cutbacks and the commercialisation of education. Branches have spread to Trinity, NUI Maynooth, Galway, Limerick and Cork. Last year the group organised numerous protests, blockades and occupations.
ENDS
