MICHAEL MORIARTY,
Sir, - As a student of Dublin City University's business school, I would like to respond to Mr Dempsey's suggestion that third-level tuition fees may be reintroduced (The Irish Times, September 24th).
It is clear to anyone that much of our prosperity over the past decade stems from our highly skilled workforce. To maintain our "tiger" status, we must continue to provide educated young people willing to work for salaries comparable to present levels.
It is a simple economic fact that the higher the price of something, the less demand for it. This is true of all goods and services from bread to education. Ministers McCreevy and Dempsey must realise that every time they make getting a third-level education more expensive, fewer people will avail of it.
The Ministers must also realise that Irish universities and institutes are competing with their counterparts around the world at recruiting students. At the moment, with tuition fees in the North, and with our own increased registration fees together with a higher cost of living here, the cost of education north and south of the border is quite similar. However, any increase in our educational costs will prompt more school- leavers from the Republic to go to Belfast, Edinburgh, Cardiff or further afield. Many of these students will not return to Ireland to work, cutting our economic potential and wasting Exchequer money already spent on their secondary and primary education.
Finally, increasing the cost of education will result in graduates demanding higher starting salaries, as they do in the US. Student loans or not, our skilled young people will want a greater pay-off for their investment in education. Can our economy sustain its own momentum if we have a sudden jolt in wage inflation? Will US multinationals still base themselves in Ireland? I suspect not.
There are many other arguments against fee increases and we in DCU would like to discuss them with the Minister. However, we are still waiting for the meeting with him that we requested shortly after the registration fee increase. A petition against these increases is being signed by hundreds of students each day on campus this week, and students in DCU and throughout the country are getting restless. - Is mise,
MICHAEL MORIARTY, Deputy President, DCU Students' Union, Glasnevin, Dublin 9.