Madam, - Colm McCarthy has a very rosy view of the period, over a decade ago, when, as he puts it "the better-off had to pay university fees for their offspring" (Business Agenda, August 15th). Well, that's not the way I remember it.
I remember hard-pressed working parents having to borrow from the banks to put their young people through college. PAYE-sector couples with very ordinary jobs had to pay fees. There was ample evidence, however, that many high-earning self-employed people, who were outside the PAYE system, were able to declare incomes that kept them under the fees threshold. And let's not forget the covenanting system that allowed wealthy people to get tax breaks by making gifts to their college-going youngsters.
My colleague Joan Burton TD has shown how some of the wealthiest people in Ireland still pay no income tax at all. I have no doubt they would be equally skilful in avoiding fees.
The no-fees system introduced by Niamh Bhreatnach has helped bring about a situation where unprecedented numbers of young people, from all sectors of society, are availing themselves of third-level education and we should think carefully before tinkering with that system. PAYE-sector parents hearing about the "better off" paying college fees should, I suggest, be very afraid. - Yours, etc,
Cllr MICHAEL O' DONOVAN
(Labour Party),
Delwood Drive,
Dublin 15.
Madam, - Carl O'Brien is to be commended for his frank and forthright article on the deep-rooted inequality in the education system (Opinion Analysis, August 15th).
Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe's reopening of the fees debate is typical of this Government's short-term, short-sighted and cynical brand of politics.
It is a lamentable state of affairs when a person's address determines their future. - Yours, etc,
EAMON KEANE,
Aylesbury Park,
Sligo.