EDUCATION is the latest prospective victim of the economic crisis. The government has floated the idea of reintroducing fees for students at university and other third-level colleges.The suggestion -- which is all it is so far, but the debate is gathering pace -- threatens to split the rainbow Cabinet and has already prompted angry student protests.Students were due to demonstrate outside the Department of Education headquarters in Dublin this Wednesday against any reintroduction of fees which could be between $7,800 and $13,800 a year per student.Third-level fees were scrapped 12 years ago, a move which supporters of the present system claim made a major contribution to production of a well-educated population and propelled many Irish graduates to the head of queues for major information technology and other business opportunities at home and abroad.Now, despite the fact that the program for government promised not to return to higher-education fees, Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe said that third-level fees are back on the agenda.He stressed that that less well-off families would not be targeted but that better-off families and those with incomes well above the national average may have to pay tuition and other fees."If we are in a situation where the economy is weak, I have to ensure that high standards in our third-level colleges are maintained," he said.He intends that his department will conduct a "forensic audit" of third-level spending before making any decision. "I want to see how the colleges are spending the existing funds. I want to make sure we are getting full value for money," O'Keeffe said.There is a growing belief among some government ministers that better-off parents should be asked to support much-needed investment in higher education through fee re-introduction.O'Keeffe is due to meet heads of universities to consider the issue next month. Colleges are struggling with funding at the moment, warning last month that cutbacks in degree courses were inevitable as the government moved to impose a 3% in payroll costs and a 50% cut in their marketing and advertising spend next year.University heads say that funding to universities lags well behind those available to competing universities in Britain and the EU.An indication of how the proposal could split the cabinet came with reactions of Health Minister Mary Harney and former Education Minister Mary Hanafin.Harney, only member of the Progressive Democrats in Cabinet, didn't exactly reject the idea. She said, "If we are to have a thorough review of the funding of the third-level sector, then everything has to be examined and clearly it would be inappropriate to rule things in or out at this stage."Hanafin was dead against the idea. "I would prefer not to see a return to fees," she said.The Green Party, which has two ministers in Cabinet, said in a statement, "The reintroduction of fees is not in the program for government and it is not Green Party policy. It is far too early even to speculate about the return of fees."On the opposition benches, Labor Party education spokesman Ruairi Quinn, who was Finance Minister in the coalition with Fianna Fail which abolished fees, said the move had opened up third-level education to tens of thousands of low-income students."It would be short-sighted and short-termist to respond to the funding crisis by imposing what would essentially be a tax on those hoping to get a degree," he added.Union of Students in Ireland President Shane Kelly said in advance of the demonstration outside the Education Department, "We are sending the message to the government that if they attempt to reintroduce fees they will have a major fight on their hands."