Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

I am sure the Chair will give me the licence to refer, in the interests of democratic balance, to some of the glaring inconsistencies in the approaches of the Opposition parties. In an article written in 2001, the Fine Gael Party complained that despite free fees, one in ten students declined their CAO offer because their parents could not afford to send them to college. I have not yet spoken about the many initiatives the Government has taken since 1997 to promote better access to third level education for the disadvantaged. My colleagues will deal with that.

This is an admission of the failure of the free fees initiative. Proinsias De Rossa, in his previous existence as Minister for Social Welfare and leader of Democratic Left, and his colleague, the Minister of State with the high stool at the Cabinet table, Deputy Rabbitte, were united in opposing the intiative. It is interesting to see the conversion on the road to Damascus in these cases.

There are serious issues in this area.