The University Times Third Level in Ireland | Tuesday, November 15 2011
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A student is knocked to the ground in the fracas that developed outside the Department of Finance. crux of the pursuit was noble, students could not afford ‘to be represented by an organisation that allows [them] to be ignored’ by sensationalist press releases and propensity for overstatement. On the day of the protest, however, the detractors were proven to be very much in the minority as an estimated 40,000 students descended upon the Garden of Remembrance to demonstrate against any further increase in the student contribution. Dublin City Centre was awash with yellow, red, and a steadfast anti-fee sentiment whose underlying passion was not to be tempered by the miserable conditions. The march itself was a largely peaceful and well-organised event tainted by images in the national media of a small number of rogue marchers clashing with police and the occupation of the Department of Finance by 50
protesters. Two men in their 20s were arrested for criminal damage and a breach of the peace amid condemnations and disassociations from USI President Redmond and accusations of Garda violence from the Socialist Workers Student Party. It was at this point that, much to the ire of many students, the USI campaign seemed to come to a halt. w w w.educationnotemigration.ie, operated by USI, was last updated the week before the march took place, and the staunch and unwavering declarations seemed to come to a grinding halt as soon as students washed off the face paint and returned to class. A small group of Trinity students not directly associated with USI addressed lectures in the following week to urge students to continue the fight against fees, but further efforts were soon abandoned when it became clear that the
collective desire to supplement USI-led campaigning did not exist among the student body. As is usually the case in student politics, detractors existed in large numbers. Many were confused as to the direct correlation between funding in third level education and emigration and the veracity of the dichotomy presented to them, and others lambasted the hyperbole of USI press releases and rhetoric. These were by no means illegitimate worries, but the finite measure of the success of a campaign is to be found in the ultimate decisions made in consideration of its agenda. In that respect, USI have reason to reflect positively upon their pre-Budget campaign. With the Fianna FáilGreens government acutely aware of its encroaching mortality, there can be no doubt that the physical
mobilisation of 40,000 students and the threat of tens of thousands more to vote against the ruling parties was a decisive factor in the minds of two political organisations staring into the abyss of electoral wipe-out. The bottom line is that the numbers who pinned their own colours to the red and yellow of Education not Emigration do not belong to a campaign whose sentiment did not have serious clout among students in Ireland. The verdict delivered on December 8th 2010, an increase of €500 per student to €2000 in registration fees, was not a defeat for the antiincrease ethos of the campaign, but rather a victory in the sense that Gary Redmond and co. knew that a fee of €3000 per student was a real possibility when the campaign began. Indeed, in an interview with University Times news editor Leanna
Byrne this year, Redmond asserted that ‘Education not Emigration’ was the sole deciding factor in ensuring that the registration fee was not 50% higher. This year, everything is different. Bailout-issuing International Monetary Fund influence on Irish fiscal policy compromises the sovereignty of the upcoming budget, and there is the growing worry that the Fine Gael-Labour coalition will transfer national blame for a crippling budget to the intangible figure of the international monetary authority and, by association, the previous government. The same electoral angst that haunted Brian Cowen’s cabinet will not be an immediate concern of Enda Kenny and Eamonn Gilmore. The figure under discussion for the registration fee is now €5000, which would make an increase to €3000 a desirable option in
deceptive relative terms. A not inconsiderable number of students have softened from a position of anti-fees to support for a fee-paying system that maintains access for the country’s poorest. Perhaps the only thing that hasn’t changed is the campaign. When USI came to class rep training this year, there was a sense among representatives that old ideas and been-there buzz-phrases are being shamelessly recycled to oppose a new danger that requires a new impetus and a new urgency. wWill the same numbers be moved to write to their TDs and hit the streets on November 16th? Perhaps a more pressing question is whether or not the same numbers would even be enough to halt a significant rise in third-level fees.