I am deeply disappointed. that the Minister for Education has not come into the House this evening to address the critical issue of the escalating cost of third level education. This is what the programme for Government had to say on the subject:
We anticipate that under the new Structural Fund extra resources will be made available to assist with the cost of third level education. On that basis it is the Government's intention to ensure that these additional resources are used to widen the access of all students to third level education in the interests of social justice and equity.
It goes on to say:
Steps will be taken in relation to third level grants to ensure that no student is deprived of access to third level education because of his or her financial circumstances.
Let us consider for a moment what has happened in the meantime. Less than three weeks two of the colleges, UCD and Trinity College, announced that they were seeking a fee increase of 8 per cent for new entrants to their colleages at the beginning of the next academic year. The other colleges have indicated that it is their intention to follow suit. Moreover, at the same time the National University of Ireland has announced that it will be imposing a charge of 70 per cent on students who wish to matriculate on the basis of their leaving certificate results, thereby putting another barrier to those who would aspire to enter third level education, despite the fact that when the matriculation examination was abolished it was the belief of all of us that with the abolition of the examination would go the abolition of that fee. That is what has happened to the cost of third level education.
The 8 per cent that is now being sought is 8 per cent on top of a previous 8 per cent hike on last year's fees. Consider the impact that will have on parents and students at the commencement of the next academic year. It is sometimes said that third level education is the preserve of the middle class. That is no longer true, because I know of nobody in the middle class who will now be able to afford to send their child to third level education unless something is done to arrest these escalating costs.
Parents in the PAYE sector are forced year after year to borrow large sums of money from banks to pay the fees of their third level student children. As for children who come from what is loosely called working class families, the percentage attendance of such young people at third level is a scandal and an affront to those who support social justice. All the fine sentiments in the Programme for Government about increasing access to third level education are worthless in the light of what has happened in the meantime. I call on the Minister to take all appropriate steps open to her to ensure that no fee increase will be passed on to students, whether grant-aided or otherwise, at the commencement of the next academic year. I call on her to talk to the heads of universities and the people in the Higher Education Authority in that regard. If it involves using the new Structural Funds, what better way could they be used?
I call on the Minister also to instruct the National University of Ireland to abolish the 70 per cent registration fee as it is both unjustified and unfair. It is one more barrier to the possibility of less well off students advancing to university courses. I ask the Minister of State to convey my deep disappointment to the Minister at her failure to be present tonight. Week after week she has told us here that this matter is under review and that a body is deliberating on those matters. When will it publish its decisions? How much more anxiety will be visited on students, who have less than three weeks to go the commencement of their leaving certificate examinations and have enough to worry about without having additional financial worries inflicted on them?
