Mary Henry (Independent)

I thank Senator Norris for sharing time with me. A motion I put down earlier this year, supported by all the Independent Senators, stated that we should double the number of places in the medical schools for EU students. Irish students cannot be given preference in this regard. I am glad 70 extra places were provided this year but there is a problem regarding the clinical years, as we have discussed with the Minister. It is three years before students go into clinical training so I would have thought the hospitals would be in a position to sort this out.

Senator Norris is right to point out the advantage enjoyed by students who take the A-level examination. It is only recently, in the last three or four years, that the universities offering high-demand courses have increased their requirements from three A-levels to four. For many years, therefore, students taking A-levels had a huge advantage over their counterparts studying the leaving certificate. We must take seriously the issue regarding the number of students from abroad being educated here and retained in the system to the disadvantage of their home countries and, worse still, the number of qualified doctors we take from developing countries to fulfil our needs. We have an enormous moral responsibility in this regard. I am interested to see that some African countries are now qualifying health workers after four years because they are determined not to be robbed by the West. This is an issue we must examine carefully.

In regard to the individual case raised by Senator Norris, it makes it particularly hard that the young person's points were upgraded to 570. At this points level, a system of random selection was in operation. However, he was not included in the random selection because of his initially lower point score and so did not even get the chance to secure a place. I understood from other cases in which I have been involved that in such situations, the person was given a place. Unfortunately, that did not happen in this instance. As fair as the points system may seem, it turns out to be very inadequate for some.