Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the question of graduate-entry medicine. It is said to be the case that University College Dublin is going to increase once again its fees for first-year graduate-entry medicine. At present, those who enter the graduate-entry medicine programme pay €16,219 per year. That is not dissimilar to what is paid by those in the University of Limerick and, indeed, the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. There is a State subsidy provided on top of that. Over a four-year programme, more than €60,000 is paid in fees. Indeed, by the time it finishes, nearly €70,000 is paid. In the past, Bank of Ireland made loans available to students who wanted to enter the programme, but they are not available now. Increasingly, the programme is becoming out of the range of many students.

Consideration needs to be given to the proposal that if somebody enters a graduate education programme and is provided with support by the State, he or she should be required, in return, to continue to work in the public hospital system after graduating. There is a lot of sense to that proposal but I really worry that if we are to continue to see fees increase in this area and there is no access to commercial loans, at the very least, or some other supports for students, the socio-economic profile of those on the course in question will not reflect wider society. We know we need more medical staff and that more undergraduate places are being provided but we need to address the question of funding. I would like the Leader to raise our concerns regarding any proposal to increase the fees for those entering graduate-level medicine.