JOHN LEONARD,
Madam, - The leader of the Labour Party, Pat Rabbitte, says the re-imposition of third-level tuition fees would be the end of the road to equality (Opinion, February 18th).
I agree entirely. Dublin, at least, is now an expensive city for everyone, and there are now many hidden costs for students who participate in higher education.
However, the article goes on to say that there were very few part-time jobs in Ireland for students before 1968 (true) and consequently, a third-level education was largely the preserve of the better-off. Not so.
In the early 1960s (pre-EU and pre-Northern Troubles), at least 75 per cent of university students, whose parents may have had difficulties with the university fees, packed their bags in early June, when the exams were over, and headed for England for the summer. There, work was found fairly easily in the construction industry, factories, and the hotel and catering trades.
With a bit of luck and some overtime, Irish students could save their fees and maybe enough to keep themselves in college until Christmas. This was the way around the fees problem for students in those days. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN LEONARD,
Rochestown Avenue,
Dun Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.