Decision on fees held until after elections
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FAMILIES will have to wait until after the local and European elections to find out how the Government will charge for third-level education.
Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe said he would be putting the options to his Cabinet colleagues in about two weeks time but a final decision will take several weeks at least -- pushing beyond the June 5 date for the elections.
Mr O'Keeffe said that he was asked by the Cabinet to prepare a paper which was now finalised.
He has already signalled the end of free third-level education from September 2010.
This will list a series of options ranging from fees to some form of graduate contribution -- but his Cabinet colleagues would have to have an opportunity to make their observations, he said.
"It would be a very significant Cabinet decision," Mr O'Keeffe said.
Fine Gael's education spokesman Brian Hayes said it seemed Mr O'Keeffe was in a minority of one at the Cabinet.
"It's time for him to stop spinning and come up with something of substance," said Mr Hayes.
The minister would not spell out his preferred option but the the package is expected to include a 'study now, pay later' scheme.
Contribution
He confirmed that students starting college this year could be affected by any new charge in 2010/11 on the basis that they now know that some form of contribution is on the agenda.
And he made it clear that he doesn't want to hit average families with huge fees.
"If fees were re-introduced they would return at a level at which families could afford them. But we are also looking at all the options. It is a matter for government."
"I want to be fair and equitable in this," he added.
Sources said that the huge political sensitivity around the issue makes a deferred payment option more attractive to Government.
It would put the responsibility for paying on the student -- possibly through repaying a loan after they graduate -- rather than on parents.
- Katherine Donnelly and John Walshe
