Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

—because he has said many things I would agree with.

Tomorrow, the Labour Party is holding a wreath-laying ceremony in Arbour Hill Cemetery to honour the memory of James Connolly. In 1896, James Connolly, the founder of the oldest political party in the State, the Labour Party, called for free education up to the highest university grades. It is good to know that, of all parties, the Progressive Democrats concur with that basic socialist principle.

The principle James Connolly espoused of education at all levels as a basic and universal right and a thing of value to the individual and society is a fundamental socialist and social democratic principle. It is this principle that underpinned the Labour Party's decision that the former Minister for Education, Niamh Breathnach, should abolish third level fees in 1996 and that the State should fund third level as it funds primary and second level education out of general taxation. As Senator Dardis has reminded us, a similarly imaginative and foresighted move was made in relation to second level education by Donogh O'Malley, a Fianna Fáil Minister in the 1960s. That move saw levels of participation in second level education increase dramatically over a 20-year period, to today's level of more than 80%.

It is only seven years since third level fees were abolished, and it is too soon to assess fully the impact of this abolition on levels of participation at third level by the various socio-economic groups. The figures available in the Clancy report of the Higher Education Authority relate only up to 1998, but the signs that access to third level education is widening are promising.