The new figures underline how a kind of social apartheid still operates in the education system, writes Séan Flynn, Education Editor.
In many senses the figures published today which show access to third-level education tell us nothing we do not already know.
Students from the affluent middle-class suburbs and the private schools proceed to university as a natural rite of passage. Those from the bleak working-class estates around our major cities are left behind.
These figure reveal the precise scale of the divide. Access to third-level may have dominated much of the political agenda for the past year, but the situation looks as though it is getting worse before it gets much better.
It would be grossly unfair on the basis of these figures to draw conclusions about the performance of individual schools.The main importance of the figures is how they highlight the scale of the inequality, especially in Dublin. As the figures show, NUI Maynooth has a very broad intake compared to UCD and Trinity which remain largely the reserve of the better-off.
It is unfair to pin the blame on both colleges. Both have fully developed and grossly underfunded access programmes. They cannot be expected to achieve miracles. They need a clear signal - and more money - from the Government. Successive governments may have put equality in access to education on their agenda, but no progress is being made.
There was more than a hint of exasperation from the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, yesterday when he was asked about access to third-level yesterday. Broadly, his view is that a plethora of reports have highlighted the problem for a quarter of a century and more.
He saw the return of college fees as the logical way to address it but there was little public appetite for this. Mr Dempsey sees himself as someone who has fought the good fight to widen access and to boost inequality.
Yes, he was successful in securing an extra €43 million in overall support for third-level grants, but there is the strong sense that a battle has been won and the war lost.
There are better top-up and maintenance grants available to students but the grant system itself is part of the problem.
A large percentage of grants still go to large farmers and the self-employed. The landmark De Buitléir report a decade ago uncovered how the children of a large farmer with assets totalling more than €500,000 were still able to secure grants.
These days, there is little confidence in the Department of Education that the picture has changed much. During the fees controversy, Mr Dempsey hoed to reform the grant system. His plan was to take control of the system away from local authorities and VEC's and hand it over to the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs.
The plan was that this department, with its vast experience of means-testing, would run a much more effective grants system. It now appears that this plan has been abandoned for now, so the overall picture is this.
The return of fees is off the political agenda for the foreseeable future - so no new source of funding will be available to address disadvantage. Everything will depend on what Mr Dempsey can secure around the Cabinet table at a time when the public purse is very tight. Meanwhile, the higher education grant system remains unreformed and open to widespread abuse.
It was the publication of the feeder schools for UCD and Trinity in The Irish Times last year which stiffened Mr Dempsey's resolve to re-open the fees question. In truth, there was no great media or political pressure on him to address the issue; the problem of access to third -level had been shunted to the political sidings.
Education sources say that Mr Dempsey was appalled at the figures. The dominance of fee-paying schools at UCD and Trinity strengthened his belief that the abolition of fees has actually helped to reduce access to third-level. In his view, middle-class parents had pocketed the saving and used the money to pay the €3,000-plus fees in fee-paying schools. It may well be that the fees issue could yet resurface in another forum.
The OECD which yesterday launched the first comprehensive review of the third-level system here for a generation may re- open the fees issue. The review will focus on issues of equality, access and financing.
Earlier this year, an OECD economic review highlighted the gross under-representation of some sectors of society at third-level. It signalled that the return of fees could help to reduce this.
The report will be fully independent and free from any interference from the Department of Education. It seem certain that it will put fees back on the agenda - but don't bet on any government picking up and running with the baton.