The argument in favour of reintroducing third-level fees appeared to be bolstered yesterday after three university heads signalled their qualified support for the move.
Dr Art Cosgrove, president of UCD, told The Irish Times: "It is now clear the abolition of fees has done nothing to widen access to college. If the Minister can come up with a scheme which reintroduces fees for those who can really afford them, I would support that".
The Provost of Trinity College, Dr John Hegarty, said he would have no difficulty with the principle of reintroducing fees, provided it was based on three principles:
The reintroduction must improve access to university for socio-economic groups currently under-represented in the sector;
A proper and carefully thought-out support system must be put in place for those for whom fees could present difficulties;
Any reintroduction must proceed with extreme caution on a reasonable phased basis, to allow people to plan their finances.
The president of NUI Maynooth, Dr Seamus Smyth, said: "The abolition of fees has done nothing to widen access to university. There is a clear case for rich people paying fees when they can afford it".
"No one in their right mind would object to the very well-off paying fees, but any measure should not hit those on middle incomes, especially those with more than one child in college. The key question is where should the income threshold kick in," he added.
Dr Cosgrove, the current president of the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU), said many people were guilty of hypocrisy on the fees issue. They complained about the lack of access for poorer people in universities but were not willing to back the reintroduction of fees, even if this freed up money for better maintenance grants and other supports.
He said he would personally support the reintroduction of fees if the Minister could devise a system that was fair.
He did not want to see a system, he said, which benefited the self-employed and farmers at the expense of the PAYE worker.
He said students already in college should not be asked to pay fees.
Dr Cosgrove said he was "in no way" surprised by the recent report showing that nine of the top 10 schools providing students to UCD were fee-paying. "We do not know where our students are coming from. The students come through the CAO system ... it has nothing to do with the college".
He said the college was working hard to advance its New Era access programme for disadvantaged students. This year, about 70 students would register with the college on this programme. Under a special arrangement, they are allowed to gain entry to courses with slightly lower CAO points than other students.
Dr Cosgrove said the effort by the universities to widen access was hampered by the Government's failure to implement the recent Mc Namara report on third-level access. This recommended that access programmes in each college should be replaced by a national co-ordinating office. The report has still to be implemented.
Last week, the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey said he was considering the possible return of fees "for those who could afford it". But this has met opposition from the Tánaiste, Ms Harney. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has also sought to play down the possible return of fees.