A number of students at the State's largest third-level college, Dublin Institute of Technology, missed out on most of their lectures again yesterday as a dispute between management and lecturing staff worsened.
The dispute, which comes amid serious financial cutbacks at the college, shows no sign of ending, although some talks are planned for later this week.
Students on two DIT courses - interior design and visual communications - received only one hour of lectures yesterday, even though they should have received five hours. Since the start of college term a few weeks ago, the students have received virtually no tuition because of the dispute.
It is understood some parents and students are taking legal advice on the matter.
About 80 students are affected and yesterday they spent most of their day in either empty classrooms or in the canteen.
Some have been asked to complete assignments, but they claim there is little point to these at such an early stage in term.
The college yesterday said it regretted the situation and said students had a right to be angry.
It added however that the union representing staff, the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI), was responsible for the disruptions.
A spokeswoman said the TUI had issued a directive to members telling them not to teach in classes with more than 16 students.
The president of the Dublin Institute of Technology, Dr Brendan Goldsmith, said the number of students in a class should be an issue for management, not for the union. He said the TUI's stance was in breach of agreements reached under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work.
However TUI sources said the cause of the problems were recent cuts in expenditure at the college.
The directive only applied to practical classes, they said, and it was important on health and safety grounds not to have too many students in practical classes.
"The union cannot accept that there can be no limit on the number of students in a practical class," said a union representative. In the meantime, the TUI is preparing to ballot members on industrial action across DIT. This will probably take place next week with a one-day stoppage being the most likely outcome.
DIT is currently trying to make cuts of about €2.5 million. Like other colleges, it is not allowed to run a deficit, so in order to balance its books for the year, it must make cuts.
Several part-time courses will be affected by cuts, but the college has yet to release the details.