FEES DEFEATED - DIRECT ACTION WORKS

national | miscellaneous | news report Sunday May 25, 2003 12:47 by Campaign for Free Education - CFE

At a press conference about an hour ago, Noel Dempsey announced that he would not be reintroducing fees and that he had secured an extra 42 million directly from the exhequer to improve the grants system.

After a prolonged campaign of direct action which saw tens of thousands of students take to the streets over the last year in USI organised demonstrations and a countless number of direct actions organised by USI and CFE the plan to reintroduce fees has been defeated.

CFE played a leading role in fighting fees, taking part in several occupations of government departments as well as a blockade of the Dáil and the blockade of Noel Dempsey when he was in UCD to open the Vet building.

This clearly shows that direct action works. It also shows that cutbacks can be defeated and that when enough pressure is exerted the government are able to find money for improving access to education and other public services.

However the fight is not over. The government has yet to reverse its recent cutbacks to the back to education allowance which is a critical support for mature students, lone parents and the long term unemployed who return to education.