Students lobby Labour over pledge not to raise registration fee
Students lobby Labour over pledge not to raise registration fee
By Conor Kane
Friday, November 30, 2012
About 70 students angry about an anticipated increase in third-level registration fees and worried about a cut in grants held a loud protest outside Labour Party TD Ciara Conways constituency office yesterday.
Ms Conway was not present to meet the students in her Dungarvan, Co Waterford base as she was in the Dil but the protesters posted letters through her door and also sent a number of Twitter messages to the backbencher.
The lunchtime protest consisted mainly of students from Waterford Institute of Technology and was the 14th of 15 being held in the Union of Students in Irelands current Fed Up Stand Up campaign about fees and grants.
Slogans chanted by the students included "Labour Party, shame on you", and "Ciara Conway, keep your promises".
USI vice-president Kate Acheson said they were asking Ciara Conway and other government TDs to prioritise education. "Its not just about students going into education, but about staying in education. The Labour Party have lied to us repeatedly."
While the campaigners were outside her office, Ciara Conway tweeted the students to apologise: "Sorry I am not there to meet ye, am in the #Dil."
The Labour TD said she had told the USI she wouldnt be able to meet members at her constituency office yesterday as the Dil sits on Thursdays and she was attending pre-budget meetings.
"I have said Id be happy to meet them and talk to them," she said from her Dil office.
She said the students were focussin! g on a number of deputies in relation to the Minister for Education Ruairi Quinns infamous signing of a pre-election pledge not to increase college fees.
"The only thing Id say is that I didnt sign the pledge," she said. "I was asked to, but I didnt. I didnt sign any pledge in relation to anything."
She thought Mr Quinn signed the pledge "in good faith" at the time, she said, but whether or not that was a good idea was "a question for Minister Quinn".
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, November 30, 2012