MTU students stage massive walkout

Thousands of students in Cork walked out of their classes on Tuesday in a protest one TD described as the largest of its kind in the history of the state.

At 11.11am on Tuesday morning, students at MTU Cork downed tools as part of the planned protest calling for increase Government investment into public transport and student accommodation.

Staged by the MTU Cork Students’ Union, the protest also called on MTU to put a plan in place to support growing numbers of students and to provide them with adequate parking.

Speaking outside Dáil Éireann as the protest was happing back in Cork, Socialist Party TD for Cork North-Central, Mick Barry identified public transport as the key factor in the protest.

Deputy Barry said that as the protest happened in Cork, Government ministers were “sitting at the cabinet table and failing to deliver what the students are campaigning for”.

Deputy Barry was referring to a meeting of the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science which took place at 11am on Tuesday.

He said: “They will say public transport is improving – well that’s debatable, but if it is, it’s at a snail’s pace and we saw last week with the flooding and the climate crisis in Cork and in Waterford, how urgent fast action is needed. A practical way to do that is to massively increase investment in public transport.

“The Government and the Green ministers are lagging way behind what the young people are calling for,” added Deputy Barry.

Isobel Kavanagh, President of MTU Cork Students’ Union, said it is imperative that the frequency of public transport is increased, especially at peak times. “Students are facing unbelievable levels of stress just to get to all of our campuses and to get to classes,” said Ms Kavanagh.

She continued: “Day in and day out, students are waiting for buses to arrive in the mornings and sometimes when they do arrive, they are already full.

“On the other hand, students are unable to get buses from certain towns and because of these reasons and due to the lack of affordable student accommodation, many students have to drive to college.”

For students forced to drive to college every day, MTU Cork Students’ Union called on the university to provide an adequate parking solution such as a dedicated, affordable park and ride service which would come into effect the day the students return to campus after the summer months.