Thousands of Galway students are expected to travel to national protests next month against the re-introduction of third level fees. Speaking to the Galway Independent yesterday, Muireann O Dwyer of NUI, Galway Students’ Union said that if the Government pushes forward with plans to re-introduce fees, it was cause crisis for colleges across the country.

The union is currently running an information campaign on campus to educate students on the impact of the Government plans and say that suggestions of student loans and graduate taxes are not the answer.

“There is a lot of misinformation being spread by the Government in relation to this issue. Studies in other countries especially Australia have shown that loans and graduate taxes do not work and actually damage the third level sector when people have no choice but to default on them.

"We have already had people coming into the office saying they cannot afford to come back to college next year because of the rise in registration fees, and that's without the re-introduction of tuition fees!"

"The Government seem to think that they are the only ones who don’t have money, but they need to realise that other people are suffering from this recession too."

Following a large demonstration in Waterford today, over 30,000 are expected to turn out to protest in Dublin on Wednesday 4 February, claiming they are being used as scapegoats for Government underinvestment in higher education.

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