A leading authority on education policy has backed the reintroduction of third-level fees for those who can afford to pay them.
Prof Malcolm Skilbeck said the decision to abolish fees gave a "fantastic subsidy" to the middle and upper classes. It also, he said, helped to underpin the "elitist" nature of third-level education in the Republic.
Prof Skilbeck, whose recent report on Irish universities is regarded as a landmark document, said he would support any plan by the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, to reintroduce fees for those who can afford them.
He told The Irish Times: "No one would likes to pay fees. But there are basic questions of equality here. Why should those in the middle and upper classes who receive a university education - and go on to prosper from it - be subsidised in this way?
"There is no reason why this group should be subsidised by taxpayers, many of whom will never get the opportunity to get a university education."
Officials in the Department of Education are now examining how the €350 million spent by the State on student supports could help to widen access to third-level.
Mr Dempsey is awaiting this report before deciding on the question of fees. Department sources say the report may not be completed for two or three months.
Prof Skilbeck said he was in no way surprised by recent figures which underlined how students from well-off areas and fee-paying schools dominated the larger universities such as UCD and Trinity. The abolition of fees had helped to exacerbate the elitist nature of third-level education in the Republic. It had given an additional advantage to the better-off - at the expense of the average taxpayer.
Meanwhile, the Fine Gael spokeswoman on education, Ms Olwyn Enright TD, said the Government was now in disarray on the fees issue, with various Ministers sending contradictory signals.
She said the Tánaiste's statement that the Government has no plans to reintroduce third-level fees had undermined the position of Mr Dempsey.
It had also, she said, caused confusion and upset for parents and students.
"It is time for clarity on this matter. The Government must begin to speak as one voice and not as individuals. It is time that the Taoiseach gave a definitive answer on this issue," she said.
Prof Skilbeck was speaking in Armagh, where he addressed a major conference organised by the Centre for Cross Border Studies. In his address, he was also critical of the low level of participation by mature students in the Republic's third-level sector.
Whereas other states had provided provision for mature students, there is considerably more to be done in the Republic. "This involves more than simply developing new courses and rearranging timetables," he said.
Mr Dempsey told the conference that plans to launch a North-South research initiative under the National Development Plan were nearing completion. Details would be available shortly.