The students at NUI Galway don't want to pay more in fees and such to get their university degree. No one wants to pay more for anything, when you get down to it, so it's no surprise that they'd be protesting.
Sometimes a protester gets a bit upset, especially one of college age who thinks no one's listening to his protests and didn't it always work with mammy and da when the protest was kicked up a notch?
A group of students cornered the secretary of Eamon O Cuiv last night where he was attending an official function. He's the Minister for Gaeltacht and Community Affairs, not Education, but the students have to take what's handed to them when it comes to government ministers. They didn't go after Batt O'Keefe, the Minister for Education, who was there as well. Far easier to put a scare into a woman than have a go at two grown men.
According to one of Mr. O Cuiv's spokespeople, the poor woman was "squashed up against a wall" and some of the wee students had at her with their feet, kicking away like spoiled children. Someone was in possession of a piece of timber, it was said, and they were menacing the secretary.
In rushes Mr. O Cuiv to defend the woman, and now the Students Union president says the minister over-reacted.
Sure he could have told the students in his most severe voice that they'd all be given a time out for such naughty and bold behavior. Instead he used physical force to protect his secretary, who probably thought she was about to be injured.
Ms. Muireann O'Dwyer thinks that the minister lost his composure, to engage in physical abuse.
He should have taken the recalcitrants by their ears and dragged them home to their parents for a proper shaming. Aren't there laws against bullies?
4 comments:
more info here - http://free-education.info/2008/12/10/fee-activist-manhandled-by-minister-at-nui-galway-protest/
I wouldn't call them babies. Spoiled brats more like it. The students were nothing more than a pack of bullies and their behavior was appalling.
Everything should be free for everyone, and then who's to foot the bill? No economics majors in the lot, apparently.
Third level education should be fully funded via the tax system. You don't need an economics major to believe that those who earn more (as most graduates will) should pay more, via tax, for public services.
Standing in a doorway can hardly be described as bullying. Grabbing someone and shaking them oon the other hand...
Then those who will earn more should pay for it to begin with. What of those who aren't bright enough for third level education? Why should they have to pay? What of a person who's more than happy as a mechanic or a clerk? Why should they pay for you to move ahead?
One person confronting a single individual is threatening at best. Several people standing in a doorway confronting a single individual is bullying.
Depends on how concerned you are about another's sensitivities as compared to your personal desire to make a point.
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