Two hundred students from the Castlebar campus of GMIT travelled to Dublin this week to take part in a national protest against third level college fees but were not involved in the ugly clashes that followed with members of An Garda Síochána.
Up to 40,000 students in total from third level colleges throughout Ireland attended the protest march to voice their opposition to the proposed increase in student fees, which will see them hiked up to around €3,000.
The convoy of students from Castlebar began their journey on Wednesday morning at 8am and linked up with students from GMIT Galway and NUIG on the approach to Dublin. The Students’ Union president of GMIT Castlebar, Alan Judge, said that once the students arrived in Dublin they marched along the selected route from Parnell Square to Merrion Square, where outside the Department of Finance they were addressed by leaders from the Union of Students in Ireland.
However this peaceful protest was marred by clashes with gardaí, many of whom were in riot gear. These disturbances occurred as around 40 people entered the lobby of the Department of Finance. The USI condemned these actions of a “small minority of people”.
Mr Judge said that students from Castlebar were not involved or witnessed any of these scenes as the group had begun to make their way back to their bus on Stephen’s Green. The Castlebar students’ union president said that the gardaí “did the right thing” in protecting themselves. He hoped that the scuffles would not ruin the main focus of what the peaceful protest was about.
“It is now public knowledge that the registration fee is set to double from €1,500 to a staggering €3,000 with other proposed cuts to the Back to Education Allowance and the maintenance grant of a huge 20 per cent,” Mr Judge said. “The cost of a college degree will rocket to over €12,000 over three to four years. At what point will the Government acknowledge that education will become a privilege reserved for the rich? It is outrageous to think that families who only want the best for their children and mature students who want to better themselves are being squeezed out of this opportunity by short sighted politicians.”
