The University Times

Before this year’s general election, the national newspapers informed us that Ireland had lost its economic sovereignty. It was, and is, a serious claim to make and it wasn’t comprehendable to many Irish people.The Irish Times’s editorial “Was it for this?” seemed hyperbolic in its effort to compel us to feel shame for what we’d done with the legacy of Connolly, Collins and de Valera. We’d just experienced the most prosperous fifteen years in the republic’s history, yet here we were being told that our independence was secured for nought – squandered by our greed and consumerism.It’s clear now that the headlines were not exaggerating, that we are entirely beholden to the terms and conditions set by those who control the nation’s cash flow. Rory O’Donovan’s interview with Ruairí Quinn illustrates how stark the situation is from a third level point of view. The upcoming budget will be harsh, and the Minister has no choice but to make it so. The solvency of this country depends on the government meeting targets set down by the ECB.

While it’s encouraging that the Minister is no longer ruling out the introduction of a loan scheme, it seems that this will not offset the increases he has to make to the student contribution as he does his part to make up the shortfall in public finances.

We’ll have to adjust, Quinn says. A Labour politician since the early 1970s, Quinn doesn’t say this lightly. Ideologically opposed to the student contribution but with hands bound by his superiors in Brussels, Quinn now cuts an apologetic figure. In his appearance on “Prime Time” last Thursday, Quinn nodded along with almost everything USI President Gary Redmond said as Redmond cut the legs from under him.

Even if this was just a habit developed to appear agreeable on television, Quinn’s retorts were lightweight at best. “Circumstances have changed… We’re no longer in control of our finances… People will have to adjust.”

In some respects, one is tempted to sympathise with Quinn. He has taken over the State’s third largest department at a time of unprecedented financial strife while saddled with the aforementioned ideolgical leanings which would normally lead him to indulge in ill-advised spending sprees. Simply put, the aims of the Labour Party are not well suited to the course of action being prescribed by the ECB.

However, Quinn knew the financial reality when he signed the pledge not to increase the student contribution or cut the grant. He now claims that this pledge was signed on the assumption that Labour would lead the government. But Fine Gael made the same promises as Labour in their election manifesto.

One only has to look to pages 37 and 38 to see that Fine Gael pledged “not [to] increase the student registration fee further.” Moreover, they said that “As the student contribution model begins to return funds to the third level sector, we will phase out the student registration fee as an upfront charge.”

Yet here we are. Facing into a bleak winter and a budget that will likely herald a more significant increase in fees than we have seen thus far. An increase that could finally break the will of those who were on the margins. Those who, until now, had borne each increase by taking on a job or commuting from home or drastically cutting down on weekly expenditure. This budget might be the difference for them.

They’re facing down the inevitable.