Clementine Yost
Staff Writer
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has announced that it has organised a number of regional marches that will involve ‘thousands’ of students. Organized in conjunction with local students’ unions, these marches protest against the planned €250 increase in the student contribution and cuts to the Student Maintenance Grant. Encouraging widespread participation from students, parents, and small business owners across Ireland, USI has been campaigning with the slogan, “Fed Up? Stand Up!”
John Logue, President of the USI called the protests, “the largest mobilization of students in USI’s history.” Logue expects “thousands of students and parents to stand up to their TDs in towns and cities across Ireland.” Logue anticipates their message will be clear to TDs to “Stand up for us and for promises made to a generation of Ireland’s youth.” The Donegal native refers to the promise made by Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn when he signed a pledge “to not increase college fees or cut the maintenance grant.” Despite being a major campaign point in the 2012 budget campaign, Quinn’s broken promise will once again be highlighted by this campaign.
The protests will kick off next Monday, 5th November, when students from University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology gather at UCC to march on the constituency office of Jerry Buttimer TD of Fine Gael. The next day in Sligo, St. Angela’s College students will rally outside the constituency office of Fine Gael TD John Perry. USI and member students’ unions across Ireland have coordinated fifteen days of marches to make the issue of rising student fees a priority in the Dáil. USI hopes these protests will be have a major impact on TDs in the month leading up to the announcement on December 7th of the budget for 2013.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) is targeting TD Kevin Humphreys ahead of the 2013 budget. TDs were chosen because of their position on education funding and because their constituencies have 3rd level institutions within their boundaries. Not only is Trinity within Humphreys’ constituency, but he also shares his Ringsend constituency office with Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn. It could be difficult to affect Humphreys after he became a local hero during last year’s flooding when he used sandbags to save local houses. However, as the new constituency drawings near implementation, Humphreys could face a constituency that is less traditionally supportive of Labour than it previously had been. This is what is said to make Humphreys politically vulnerable and the perfect target for TCDSU and USI protests.
It should be clear that the protests are not meant to condemn these TDs for any wrongdoing. Instead, USI and affiliated SUs aim to use these marches to inspire these representatives to take a stand against increasing the Student Contribution by rising up with their fellow citizens who are affected by fee increases.
Minister Quinn regularly speaks of an annual increase of €250 in the student contribution until 2015, at which point the Student Contribution will be €3,000. According to John Logue, “ that represents the largest increase to fees made by any Minister for Education since they were abolished in 1996.” The possibility of cuts to the Student Maintenance Grant was brought before the Dáil and has yet to be denied by Minister Quinn. Cuts to this grant would affect thousands of families who need it to afford college. Logue called this a “staggering betrayal of voters and we’re encouraging TDs to break with Quinn and stand up for fairness.”
