In the Dáil this morning, the Taoiseach trumpeted the increased numbers attending third level courses compared to figures in the past. Contrary to what the Taoiseach, the Minister for Education and Science and Senator Fitzgerald seem to believe – that the abolition of fees has not improved access to third level education by the lower socio-economic groups – the evidence available suggests that the abolition improved access to third level education by all socio-economic groups. In the latest year for which figures are available, 1998, two years after the abolition of third level fees, the participation rates of the children of the lowest socio-economic group, the unskilled manual workers, had almost doubled, from 12% in 1992 to 22% in 1998. The Clancy report shows that from 1980 to 1992, before third level tuition fees were abolished, eight out of 11 socio-economic groups increased their participation rate in third level education, and overall participation rates increased, but the rates of three low to middle PAYE-paying income groups either worsened or increased negligibly. Between 1986 and 1992, the participation rates of those three groups actually dropped.