Letters: Government should stick to pre-election promise to help struggling students

Irish Independent

5 hours ago

He also launched means-tested third-­level grants, giving easier access to university to less well-off students.
O'Malley's determination to eliminate elitism in education has provided Ireland with the best educated and most productive workforce in Europe.
Thirty years later, visionary education minister Niamh Bhreathnach introduced the 'Free Fees Initiative' providing free undergraduate education for all students.
The colleges immediately hit back with a registration fee for student services. Initially, the fee was a nominal €200. It was subsequently renamed the 'student contribution charge' and has now increased to a whopping €3,000.
Third-level education is very expensive, particularly due to exorbitant rental costs. The financial burden is eased a little for students who qualify for a partial or total grant. However, many college students have to work part-time or depend on their parents to make ends meet.
Thousands of students who are ineligible for funding must come up with about €15,000 annually if living away from home or about €5,000 if living at home. The unjustifiable student contribution charge of €3,000 must also be paid.
Prior to the last general election, the student contribution charge was reduced by €1,000. The then taoiseach Simon Harris promised to abolish the €3,000 charge if returned to power. The expectation was for a further reduction of €500 this year and annually until fully abolished.
The Government is now reneging on that commitment with its weasel words. It seems that pre-election promises, like eaten bread, are soon forgotten.
Billy Ryle, Tralee, Co Kerry
With no cards left to play, we are left to follow the American lead on Gaza
Donald Trump talks a lot about holding all the cards and from listening recently to coded pre-warnings from both Taoiseach and Tánaiste, we here in Ireland hold none.
Which brings me back to Éamon de Valera's time during the 'Emergency', when our neutrality kept us out of the big boys' battles. Fortuitously for Dev, the British had recently returned three naval ports to us in late 1938, three cards.
The Taoiseach, in watering down the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB) to a bad joke, cites American legislation integrated into most American companies here on the right of Israel to defend itself. By us putting in a strong and proper OTB, our Government infers American retribution.
We, unlike Dev who agitated the return of the three naval bases, gave away Shannon Airport, currently used for the gross genocide in the Middle East. We have no cards left only cards stacked with American approval. Shame on us.
John Cuffe, Co Meath
Foreign affairs should not be the focus when the cost of living is causing misery
There have been calls for the publication of the annual accounts of supermarkets in Ireland. Would it be possible to also publish the accounts of fuel providers, dairy producers, meat producers, Irish vegetable and fruit growers, landlords of multiple properties, hotels and restaurants, show producers and ferry services?
That would be a start, as the government has gone Awol other than when asked about foreign affairs, where it can distract the willing slaves by virtue signalling or otherwise extolling the importance of working, homeless Irish people joining and dying in an EU defence force.
Eugene Tannam, Firhouse, Dublin 24
Future generations will be horrified by what the world allowed in Palestine
As the killing continues in Gaza, I can't help thinking that, in time, profound guilt over what is happening there will come to rest heavily on Israel, on the countries that supported the slaughter, on the countries that did nothing to stop it, and on the countries that did not do enough to stop it.
Furthermore, this guilt will last for generations and people will say – just as they say about the Holocaust – why was it allowed to happen and why did people not stop it and, surely, nothing like this could ever happen again?
Chris Fitzpatrick, Dublin 6
Putin's Russia shows its depravity in its eagerness to associate with Taliban
Russia is thought of as an international bully ruled by a despot and now it is working to confirm that. The attacks on Ukraine are unforgivable, unjustifiable and have led to so many deaths in both countries, but that was just the start.
The latest act of international defiance was to recognise Afghanistan's Taliban government, so far the only country that has.
The people of ­Afghanistan are mostly the same as in any country, but the religious-based government represses its people in so many ways.
If Russia wants new friends, it could withdraw from Ukraine and this would be so appreciated that other countries would look to re-establish contact.
Hang with some of the good guys, not the worst of the worst.
Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia
Social media can't match the magic of radio – that's why 'Liveline' still works
With regard to Liveline, I disagree with your correspondent Frank Coughlan and letter writer Julia Anderson (Irish Independent, July 4 and 5) that it has lost its edge.
It is true that nearly everyone nowadays is a complainer about something or other on social media, but the immediacy and the power of the human voice via a system that is so old – that is: radio, which will be celebrating 100 years in Ireland next year – cannot be equalled.
An X post cannot by its ­nature convey the emotion of someone creating it.
Liveline continues to give a platform to ordinary Joe Soaps to issues which simply would not be covered in ordinary national media.
I have spoken on the programme on a diverse range of topics – ranging from how I overcame a diagnosis to why I believe the remains of Bishop Eamonn Casey should be removed from the vault at Galway Cathedral.
To the ordinary people who raise issues on the programme long may ye continue to do so.