Batt O'Keeffe poked a big stick into the body politic last week, and stirred up a fine old hornet's nest. Righteous indignation went through the roof. Principles were shaken from slumber. And fairness in society was invoked as a primary political force by both left and right, as politicians lined up to dispatch tablets from the high moral ground.

Nothing exposes the cynicism in modern day politics like the issue of third level college fees. Last week, when O'Keeffe flew the kite of reintroducing fees, everybody had a right old time of it. The material is perfect. Opposing fees for third level students allows politicians to claim they are acting in the best interests of the most vulnerable, while actually protecting their own bases among the middle class.

Last week, the apparent leader of the Progressive Democrats, Ciaran Cannon, said free third level education was a matter of principle for his party. Mary Harney didn't like his principle, so he changed it within 24 hours.

The Labour Party excelled themselves. Niamh Bhreatnach, who as minister for education brought in the free fees, said the move contributed to stemming emigration. She uttered this rubbish on radio so it wasn't possible to see whether she kept a straight face while doing so.

Ruairi Quinn likened it to Donagh O'Malley's introduction of free second level education. He said O'Keeffe's proposal was "right wing". What this socialist politician describes as "right wing" involves changing a regime in which low paid workers contribute to the further education of the offspring of doctors, lawyers, accountants and wealthy businesspeople.

Quinn represents Dublin South East, which is bulging with fee paying second level schools, a sector that has benefited greatly from the free fees regime, thus widening the gap of opportunity between the haves and have nots. According to The Irish Times, one-fifth of university students now come from fee paying schools. The bill for their further education is being footed by, among others, the 1.5 million workers earning less than €38,000 a year.

A little history mightn't go astray here. The Labour Party were the driving force behind the introduction of free fees in 1996. By then, the party had delivered the divorce referendum to its liberal middle class base. Polls were showing dissatisfaction over the party's decision to go into government with Fianna Fáil in 1992. The mother of all beatings was in the offing.

One way of softening the impending blow was to give big chunks of money to their constit­uency by eliminating fees. At the time, there was abuse of a coven­ant system which allowed for tax breaks to those funding students at third level. Anybody interested in widening opportunities could have cleaned up that system and instigated a proper review of the grant sector, which would have encouraged low paid families to push their kids towards college.

Instead, under the guise of an egalitarian goal to open up third level to everybody, Labour threw money at those who could afford to pay their own way. It was the height of cynicism and probably the most socially regressive move of the last two decades.

Numbers attending third level have increased in the last 12 years, as they have in most developed countries. There is no concrete evidence that the abolition of fees has anything to do with the increase. There is still a very low participation rate of students from poorer backgrounds and a low take-up from families just above the grant threshold. Labour's bright shining lie has been exposed.

Surprise, surprise, Harney welcomed the possibility of the reintroduction of fees. Five years ago, when Noel Demp­sey floated the same kite, Harney was implacably opposed to it. But now she is coming to the end of her political career. Unencumbered with having to prop up the PD constit­uency, she can see the unfairness of the current regime.

Reintroducing fees will do little for education disadvantage. Only proper investment in primary and pre-school can make inroads there. But it would bring to an end a blatant mechanism of wealth redistribution, which panders to a powerful section of the electorate, at the expense of the wider society.

mclifford@tribune.ie