Jim O'Keeffe
Ceist:14 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on the payment of fees at third level. [16568/97]
Written Answers - Third Level Fees.
The payments of fees at third level involves a wide range of issues and must be seen in terms of all levels of study in the sector.
It is not true that fees have been abolished at third level as they were left in place across a wide range of courses including post-graduate, evening and part-time study.
As the Deputy will be aware, there continues to be a significant debate on the effect of the removal of tuition fees for full-time undergraduate study. While it does restrict the ability of the Government to concentrate resources on helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain access to third level, I recognise that middleincome earners lay particular store on the absence of tuition fees. Moreover, in the light of available resources I can see little scope for extending this concession.
Whatever about these points, Deputies should realise that the most important debates in third level involve other areas and we should not be distracted from concentrating on them. To this end, I achieved Government sanction to expand the number of places made available this year to the highest in our history and created 1,850 places in third level and PLC courses in areas of particular skills needs.
The entire third level sector has been underresourced and I am particularly conscious of the need to deal with the existing and future capital requirements of the sector.
The Government's agenda is a comprehensive one to maximise the resources available for third level, to increase the opportunities to avail of third level education and to meet the development needs of our society and economy. I am confident that we will deliver on this.