Politicians debate at Queen's

As protests continue across the UK in opposition to the proposed increase in tuition fees, students at Queens were given an opportunity to present their opinions to representatives of the five major political parties in Northern Ireland at an event held in the Students’ Union. Not only were students given a chance to express their opinions on fees, but the panel also faced questions on the issues of cuts to university funding and graduate employment.

The major issue which dominated the discussion throughout the course of the evening was on the most pressing topic of student fees. Whilst there was a general consensus on the opposition to the Browne reports recommendation for £12,000 fees and the need for university education to be open for people based on their ability to learn and not their ability to pay, the representatives were divided over how to remedy the possible hole in Northern Ireland’s finances it would leave with Danny Kennedy, UUP Minister for the Department of Employment and Learning, emphasising in particular the follow up to the Stuart Report in which Joanne Stuart would analyse the findings of the Browne report and suggest the implications that an application of the report would have on the Universities in Northern Ireland.

In a move which clearly unsettled a number of the panel, NUS-USI President Ciarnan Helferty asked the member directly which way their MP’s would vote on the proposed bill, with Conall McDevitt (SDLP) and Chris Lyttle (Alliance) openly stating that their MP’s would vote against it, with Peter Weir of the DUP declaring that they most likely would oppose the bill. Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd, whilst declaring his opposition to fees, said only his party would involve themselves at opposition at Assembly level, and the UUP failed to win any seats at the last election.

The discussion then turned to the cuts to be imposed on the university budget, with the need for economic growth to firstly make up the budget shortfall which faces the governmental departments, but also to increase the number of job opportunities open to graduates. Whilst Sinn Fein stressed their opposition to cuts in all sectors, the other members were more accepting of the cuts, yet all appeared to take issue with the level of cuts and lack of proper planning for economic growth, with a slight increase in fees, £20million in efficiency savings in the DEL and a programme of social partnership all being suggested.

Whilst the parties appear to share a degree of common ground over cuts to important areas, and more pressingly student fees debt, there appeared to be little attempt at unifying the various strands into presenting one single united front in order to protect Northern Ireland from the worst of George Osborne’s slash and burn tactics as political point scoring seems still to be the order of the day for NI politicians.