The death this week of former minister for education Niamh Bhreathnach prompted a wave of tributes from politicians and observers on all sides of the political divide. Despite being a single-term minister, with no previous Cabinet experience, she left an extraordinary legacy of educational reform. The Labour Party TD kick-started the Breaking the Cycle programme of targeted supports for less well-off schools; created the Leaving Cert Applied programme for students suited to hands-on learning; and introduced psychological supports for primary schoolchildren for the first time.
She will be best remembered, however, as the minister who abolished third-level fees in 1995-96. The hope was that the policy would lead to more students enrolling in college, boost access for the disadvantaged and dismantle a stubborn barrier of privilege.
While its impact has been hotly debated, there is no doubt that many of those aims have been achieved over the past 25 years or so. Ireland now has one of the highest third-level participation rates in the world. The proportion of school leavers going to higher education has risen from 40 per cent in the mid-1990s to about 65 per cent. College participation rates among children of less well-off parents has increased significantly.
Were free fees solely responsible for this? Other factors such as the expansion of third-level places, student grants and growing demand for jobs in skilled sectors of the economy likely played a role. However, there is no doubt that Bhreathnach’s ambitious policy announcement helped remove both financial and psychological barriers among families across the State to accessing higher education.
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A pointed criticism has been that the policy advantaged middle-class voters and did not do enough to boost higher education participation among the poorest. It is true that affluent families benefited. So, too, did the squeezed middle and those just outside the thresholds for grant support. While there remains a class gap in participation in higher education, third-level participation rates for children from less well-off backgrounds have improved significantly over the years.
Free fees, on its own, was never going to solve educational inequality. It is a complex problem which required early intervention, targeted support, strong relationships with schools and ambitious university access programmes. It was, however, a key jigsaw piece as part of a wider drive to make college a right rather than a privilege.
The abolition of third-level fees was not a perfect policy – but it was brave, ambitious and transformative. It helped burst open the door to allow much wider access to third level than ever before. In doing so, it has boosted social cohesion, helped the country develop economically and allowed many citizens to realise their full potential.