Are you supportive of what the students are doing here today?Yes it’s very important that the mobilisation happens here today, unhealthy but i think the question needs to be stepped up. An increase in fees or any cuts in education would be just disastrous not just for the young people, remedy the students and their families, salve but for the economy aswell. Austerity is killing this economy and we therefore have to purport a change in policy.
Did you hear this weekend in particular that they might be cutting all support for postgraduate degrees ? What do you think of that?
Thats been announced but I mean it’s a direct contradiction to what they say is supposed to be the investment in education and in the cutting edge of research and development that is critical to the development of a high quality economy, so it’s a complete contradiction and cuts like this, as cuts in living standards of working people are depressing the economy further and therefore will just result in more crisis, more young people being forced to emigrate and disaster generally.
The government will say theres going to be cuts across the board, why do you think students should be exempt?
Students should be the same as everybody else which means that cuts generally should be reservsed it is just incredible that the govt continue the policy of Fianna Fail of sending billions to bondholders and speculators in the European financial markets while cutting our services and the living standards of our people. Its a disaster. So stop paying the billions to these European gamblers, invest in education, invest in society, remake and regenerate our broken economy to provide for our services, including education. So complete change is needed, this is a sick financial system all over Europe it’s a sick system. We have a huge attack on democracy now where banks and the markets are deciding who will be the prime ministers of countries. What happened to the democracy we were told is supposed to be a part of the European union. We need to completely change the system and young people must get mobilised, get stuck in and they should, The student unions should in my view consider a national demonstration, or a national strike in all the colleges and universities on the 6th.
You don’t think this protest is enough today?
It has to be stepped up, absolutely has to be stepped up. A national strike in every college, university on budget day the 6th of December would be a further stepping up and then link with the ranks of the unions, working people, unemployed people to force a change of policy.
