Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to do so. As anyone in this House will know, I am fundamentally opposed to the concept of student loans and have ruled them out as a funding model. This is an anomaly in respect of graduate entry medicine. I would like to take a more hands-on policy intervention approach. In the interim, there is a Bank of Ireland product available. People will probably be watching these proceedings with interest, so I will share with the Deputy and the House the following.

When I corresponded with Bank of Ireland on this, it responded to say:

We carefully considered the future of the GEM loan product and we ultimately decided that it should be discontinued for a number of reasons. However, it should be noted that no graduate student starting their medicine course in 2022 should be impacted as the final closing date for applications has been set for 31 July. Please note that some students starting their course in September 2022 may not have received their letter of acceptance. We will however process their application and conditionally approve. Once the customer provides proof of acceptance in August or September we will progress the loan. Hence no student applying for the GEM loan should be impacted this year.

That is helpful. A person can apply conditionally and provide the proof afterwards.

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