College student protest uses 90s hits to draw politicians into listening

Protest turned to party near the gates of Leinster House on Thursday, as thousands of college students took to the streets of Dublin to urge the Government to use Budget 2027 to address issues in the third-level education system.

Amid a sea of placards bearing messages such as ‘fund our future’ and ‘education not exploitation’, indie band Na Tonnta played songs from the 1990s and early 2000s such as Supersonic by Oasis and Mr Brightside by The Killers.

The throwback tunes may have drawn Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty and Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore to the scene, but the demonstration’s message made them stay.

Organised by Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn, the protest centred on the abolition of college tuition fees and closing gaps in funding.

Amy Kennedy, a third-year English literature student and president of Trinity College Dublin’s students’ union, was one of about 25 students who gathered on the university’s front square an hour before the march to take the short walk over to Parnell Square.

“Ireland has been lagging behind basically every other country in Europe in terms of core funding for higher education,” Kennedy said. “The Government doesn’t care to fund us enough for us to get the standard of education that we deserve.

“Class sizes are much larger than they should be. University facilities are often falling apart,” she added, “and, on top of that, students are paying €2,500 [annually] for quote-unquote ‘free’ education. I sound like a broken record saying it, but that isn’t free and it is a barrier to education.”

Kennedy said her personal experience of the challenges many students face pushed her to get involved with student politics upon entering university.

“I got to college and I was commuting in first and second year from Wicklow – and I just got so fed up,” she said. “My brothers were also in college and we were all having the same problems. We were all losing our minds, and my friends were also losing their minds.”

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Enzo Crothers (22), a UCD history and politics student and Students’ Union president, is the first member of his family to attend university.

“I think within UCD especially, a lot of the time a bit of a class divide, with students who are sometimes the third generation of their family to go to UCD,” he said, adding that this can lead to a tiered understanding when “navigating what university life is like”.

Crothers commutes some 90 minutes each way to UCD from south Co Wicklow every day, which he said is “not fun” and “not ideal”.

“If you’re living on campus, you’re able to go straight to class,” he said, adding it was “incredibly stressful” to have to get up at 5am to make it in for a 9am class.

“But, I make it work – it’s either an hour and a half on public transport or paying €10,000 a year on accommodation fees.”

Seán de Búrca, president of University of Galway’s student union and a recent graduate from its BA in Government, said new student accommodation opened on the campus recently and “one of the cheapest options, if not the cheapest option” started at €295 per week.

“The effect that has on the student experience is enormous – people are stressed, asking ‘can I afford where I’m living?’” he said.

“People are skipping meals to afford rent, those sorts of things obviously have a terrible impact on mental and physical health.”

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