just an update. The plastic piece I jammed in actually seems to be holding up. 10 days of daily use and no change in pedal position. A look at the master cylinder confirms it is indeed a "bayonet mount" type, so removing it is really easy. The only issue is containing the fluid as it feeds from the brake reservoir which contains quite a lot of fluid. As the quick fix is holding up, there is no real urgency, but when I do fix it I'll show the results.
So, in summary from reading all the posts, it appears the the low clutch pedal can be due to a myriad of reasons, from the damper, to the slave cylinder, master cylinder, pushrod and one owner had to replace the clutch and pressure plate to solve his issue.