MINISTER FOR Education Batt O'Keeffe has told The Irish Timeshe personally backs the return of college fees in some form.
He has confirmed his department is preparing a series of reports on fees which should be ready for Government within about six months.
The Minister pointed to a Bank Of Ireland wealth survey which found there were 33,000 millionaires in the Republic.
He asked: "Why should we the taxpayer fund the people who could well afford to pay themselves?"
In an interview yesterday, he said he would not have raised the issue of the return of fees unless he believed the funding base was going to change in some way. He again stressed that any proposals would have to be approved by Cabinet.
The Minister said he had not discussed the issue of fees with the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, before raising the matter through The Irish Timeslast month.
"I felt it was my duty to look at the funding of the third level sector and to initiate debate on the issue."
The Minister confirmed that his department is now preparing three separate reports on the issue.
These include:
• A report on the revenue which will be generated by the return of fees;
• An examination of the Australian loan model where students "repay'' the cost of their higher education in subsequent earning;
• A report by a tax expert on means whereby the self-employed could become liable for college fees for their children. (This follows criticism that the self-employed and farmers were able to avoid paying third-level fees in the 1980s.)
The Minister's personal backing for fees is highly significant. Until now, it had been assumed that he was content to stimulate a debate on the issue.
It had also been thought that any decision on fees would be delayed for at least 18 months until after the new National Strategy on Higher Education is complete.
But the Minister said he expected to be in a position to bring the results of the pending reports on the fees issue to Government within about six months.
He said the department had also compiled a dossier of newspaper clippings on the fees issue since he first raised the matter last month.
The Minister said he was determined that any new revenue coming from fees or other charges for the wealthy would also help him to widen access to third level and help disadvantaged groups.
Mr O'Keeffe is also expected within months to receive the results of an audit of third-level expenditure which is being completed by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
It was essential, he said, to demonstrate to the taxpayer that the third level system is delivering value for money given the huge scale of public investment (€2 billion) in higher education.
He revealed that he also planned a meeting shortly with Prof Brendan Drumm, chief executive of the HSE, to consider joint health/education strategies on the whole issue of disadvantage.
Mr O'Keeffe also expressed confidence that the school building programme would not be scaled back as part of Government cutbacks.
Both the Taoiseach and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan recognised the central importance of the programme, he said.
Mr O'Keeffe said he would be looking to get much better value for money in the school building programme. In particular, he was focusing on the high payments made to architects.
