Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Every year gets more competitive for the Irish student to study medicine and, as the Minister stated, other students begin with another degree and then try to get back in and study medicine. This graduate-entry medicine route is even more dominated by the more lucrative international students. If it is possible to imagine, this is even more difficult to get into than directly from the leaving certificate. Fees are approximately €15,000 a year. That is €60,000 over four years.

There are no Government supports to help students who do not come from wealthy families and the only option is the loan from the Bank of Ireland. However, I have been contacted by a young man from Limerick who tried to get this bank loan and was told that he needed a guarantor to sign the loan and that the guarantor had to earn at least €50,000 a year. The young man in question comes from a single-parent household and his mother does not earn more than €50,000 a year. Indeed, most people in this country do not earn more than €50,000 a year.

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