Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Far be it for me to intervene in any way with pharmacy programmes, but the fact is a pharmacy degree was always five years, or it was when I was at college, and those who were studying it had to stay on longer than other students. The worry is that this and other examples are being used as a back door way of getting more money into the system. It is a severe worry because there is a severe shortage of money in the sector, although there are others who beg to differ and we look forward to watching RTE's "Prime Time Investigates" tomorrow night.

This is certainly a way to get more money into the system and that is one objective. However, is it acceptable to do that? The five-year requirement in the European directive was already being complied with. It is not as if there is an extra year. It was always five years, or it certainly was at Trinity College. Now, however, part of that is a masters year. Is it an unsanctioned fee increase through the back door? That is the question pharmacy students are asking us. It is simply adding to the cost and the debt burden they have and, most worryingly, it may be putting people off going into pharmacy who are from backgrounds where they are turned off by the cost. That is wrong and our education system should not be about that.

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