Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. The HPAT is one centred on a multiplicity of questions designed to assess a person's overall suitability for medicine. It is not an academic measurement of study, learning and memory. However, the limited evidence on the basis of two examination years would show that the threshold has jumped and that those who benefited most in the second year of the test — this year — are those who had repeated the HPAT. In many cases they had paid a considerable amount of money for grinds in advance of sitting the test, which is run by a private company. While I take it that the Department is reviewing the situation, will the Minister of State ensure that the test should only be allowed to be taken once because the personality and suitability of a student will not differ dramatically between one year and another. The limited evidence based on two sets of results would seem to suggest that those who repeat a HPAT are effectively getting an inbuilt advantage, which was not the purpose of the test in the first instance.

See this speech in context