Silly season college fees plan

So our new Education Minister and the university heads are at one, better off families should pull their own weight and pay up college fees. It appears that the PD’s and the Greens are unhappy campers at this notion and it remains to be seen how far this one goes past the silly season.
Traditionally early August is the time when Education Minister’s fly kites, last year his predecessor said English exams for the leaving cert could go ahead on a Saturday in May ‘08, a few years ago then minister Noel Dempsey said SSIA money should go towards school construction, a year later in August he said subsidies to fee paying schools should end. In a way we should have expected this one.

Nobody should have a problem with the well off paying but it’s not as simple as this. It seems that on the south side of Dublin the well off are happy to pay fees to some second level schools that it is argued would be paid anyway to the university. Within some colleges we have a significant problem with drop out rates in 1st year. But who exactly are the “better off”? Well by the criteria set for consideration of maintenance grants any family where the income exceeds €56K per annum; that’s a household where one person earns the average industrial wage while another works 20 hours a week, doesn’t qualify for maintenance.

In the south east we have another problem, transfer rates to 3rd level which improved after Niamh Breathnach delivered free fees in the mid-90’s still lag behind the national rate. Given our historically below average share of the national income, such a move will put greater pressure on parents in the region. A by-product of this proposal will see a reduced demand for third level places and the planned University of the South East will be long fingered. Accessibility to a university is no problem in a big city but in other parts of the country it is but they have a cultural emphasis on education.
However Minister O’Keeffe’s statement follows a summer media campaign by some of he university heads stating that they haven’t enough cash to compete internationally with other colleges. Is Minister O’Keeffe taking advantage of this campaign and the economic downturn to effectively transfer the state’s obligation to fund universities to parents of students at a time when Ireland’s investment in education is significantly below the EU norm?

Does anyone believe that parents of pupils will want to pay as much as €6K per annum? Indeed what is needed is the state to invest more in breaking down the culture of early school leaving and effective alienation from 3rd level which we see in some parts of the south east. I want to see 3rd level education as an option for all 2nd level pupils not the domain of those who can afford it.

So as to let you have your say on the matter I've set up a poll on the matter, Get voting

Transport in the South East

How do you feel public transport serves you in the south east? Train services within the region are poor. If you wish to go from Wexford to surrounding counties train services are limited and bus services are little better. Why is it that private motoring seems to be catered for in our national plans to the detriment of public transport?

What I think is hugely important is that there is a public alternative to private transport, I'm throwing this out to see how you feel about;

(a) Does it matter about public or private ownership of a bus route? I say this in the context of a bus company colapsing in Dublin citing competition from Dublin Bus last month. What about how customers feel?

(b) Should private operators be allowed to utilise a public rail network (I hope this stirs a hornets nest!) My own feeling is look at the mess the UK rail industry is in but should Irish Rail be allowed to dictate the rate of development of our rail network? Is there a role for local authorities?

(c) How do we plan our transport services to actively drive juggernaut traffic off the road and onto rail? Rosslare Europort recently relocated their railway station 200 M away from the passenger terminal so as to facilitate container movement in the port. The picture shows where the track used to go until April 2008. There is no load on load off quayside service there for rail. The result is loads of unnecessary trucks on the N11 & N25.

Your comment please, I'll let the debate roll and add my own comments in time