Tipperary Institute Student’s Union will present local TD Michael Lowry with a petition of over 500 signatures from students, who are opposing proposed cuts to Higher Education in the December Budget.
Delegates from the local students’ union will present Deputy Lowry with the petition at his constituency office on Abbey Road in Thurles at 2.00pm on Monday November 15th next.
USI is now intensifying its campaign against registration fee hikes and decreases to the student maintenance grant by urging students nationwide to lobby their local TDs ahead of the upcoming Budget.
The vast majority of students from the Institute travelled to Dublin last week for the national protest march organised by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).
The students of Tipperary Institute refuse to be easy targets in the Budget and are sending a clear message to elected representatives that education is the key to Ireland’s economic recovery.
USI will continue to campaign tirelessly against any cuts to Higher Education, which will mean further devastation to the Irish economy.
Darragh Scott, President of Tipperary Institute, stated:
“The students at Tipperary Institute are strongly opposed to any further increases in the already inflated Registration Fee. If the fee is hiked any more, many students at this college will be forced to abandon education. This petition was drawn up in an attempt to drive home the message that local students just simply cannot afford to pay any more money at the start of each college year. They are already struggling to meet the costs of their third level education in the current recession.”
Gary Redmond, USI President, stated:
“The students of Tipperary Institute are anxious about possible cuts to education in the upcoming Budget. Many local students are highly dependent on the student maintenance grant to cover the costs of going to college. If the Government decide to cut the student maintenance grant, or hike up the registration fee next month, many of these students will have no choice but to drop out of their courses. By presenting Michael Lowry with this petition, we are asking him to support the students of Tipperary, and the students of Ireland, by preserving existing third level education in planning this Budget.”
Regarding the aforementioned Mr Gary Redmond, an image depicting him among members of Ógra Fianna Fail UCD, with Thurles born Mary Hanifin TD, next to a banner encouraging students to ‘VOTE FIANNA FÁIL FOR JOBS’ has now embarrassingly surfaced. Since recent shocking events outside the Department of Finance, and Mr Redmond’s total refusal to condemn claimed assaults made upon his own student membership, serious questions about the true ideology of Mr. Redmond’s sincerity in supporting the student cause, now greatly abound.
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