The Minister for Education and Science, Ms Hanafin, has confirmed that third-level fees will not be reintroduced during the lifetime of this Government.
"The issue of the re-introduction of third-level fees is off the agenda," the new Minister said in Galway yesterday. "It's a dead issue."
Ms Hanafin, who was undertaking her first function outside Dublin when she opened a new €35 million biomedical research centre at NUI Galway, also indicated that she may seek a compromise on plans for standardised literacy and mathematics tests which had been proposed by her predecessor, Mr Noel Dempsey.
Mr Dempsey's plan for literacy and mathematics tests at three stages within compulsory schooling - the first two being at first and sixth class stage in primary level - sparked criticism from the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), which said it had not been consulted beforehand.
Ms Hanafin said she had been in phone contact with the various teachers' unions since her appointment last week but had not yet sat down with the representatives to discuss the "major issues".
In relation to the proposed test, Ms Hanafin said: "Obviously you have to work with the teachers and you have to work with the unions and I look forward to doing that."
The National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science at NUI Galway has been funded through the Programme for Research in Third-level Institutions, which is administered by the Higher Education Authority.
Some €23 million has been spent on the physical infrastructure of the centre and €9 million on some 80 researchers and academics from a range of disciplines, working together in the area of biomedical engineering.
Ms Hanafin said the harnessing of the "outstanding intellectual resource" created "hugely exciting possibilities for new breakthroughs in areas such as cardiovascular disease, reproductive biology, cancer, neurobiology and infectious diseases".
This research held out extremely important possibilities for wider society, she noted.
Asked about continued Government funding for the Programme for Research in Third-level Institutions, the Minister said any increase would have to be discussed with her colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Martin.
"Research and science is particularly important, not just for education itself but also for the wider economy, and particularly colleges here like NUI Galway, which is at the hub of pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries," Ms Hanafin said.
