Q & A

Your questions answered by Brian Mooney

I have a number of questions relating to regulations for entry to NUI colleges. Firstly, which students are exempt from Irish?

Students from Northern Ireland/United Kingdom presenting GCE/GCSE qualifications are automatically granted exemption. (This new arrangement, agreed with the CAO, was introduced in 2005. Previously students in this category had to apply to NUI to claim exemption.)

Other students qualifying for exemption from Irish have to apply to NUI to have their exemptions recorded and the CAO notified. If they do not apply, they will come up on CAO records as not meeting matriculation requirements, and will not be offered places in August, even if they have the points. This occurs every year and some students miss out because the places are filled by round one offers. So make sure to notify NUI now if you have been granted an exemption.

The following students are entitled to exemption from Irish:

Students born outside the Republic of Ireland. If this applies to you, send a copy of your birth certificate to the NUI with your full name, address and CAO application number. (This is not necessary if you are from Northern Ireland/United Kingdom.)

Students born in the Republic of Ireland but educated up to age 11 outside the Republic or who for the last three years of second-level education were educated outside the Republic.

Students in these circumstances need to apply to the NUI for exemption. The application must be accompanied by a declaration from the school principal. There is a special form for this, which you can get from the NUI or download from the NUI website www.nui.ie

If a student is granted an exemption, does he/she still need six subjects for matriculation?

A. Yes, every student needs six subjects to matriculate.

What does the NUI third language requirement mean and does the third language requirement apply for all courses?

A. It means that you must present a language in addition to Irish and English as one of your Leaving Cert subjects. If you are exempt from Irish, you must present a language other than English. All languages provided in the Leaving Cert are acceptable. Classical studies and Hebrew studies are not considered as language subjects.

There are a small number of exceptions to the third language requirement. Students applying for nursing, students applying for engineering at Maynooth or UCD or for agricultural science at UCD are not required to have a third language. Students applying for NCAD may present art instead of the third language.

What is the position in NUI colleges on students with dyslexia?

A. There are special provisions for students whose dyslexia constitutes a significant learning difficulty. A student who has been granted an exemption from Irish at school on the grounds of dyslexia, having been assessed by a professional psychologist, should send a copy of the certificate of exemption, signed by the school principal, together with the psychologist's report, to NUI. In these cases, NUI will grant an exemption from Irish and from the third language requirement.

Sometimes students are diagnosed late as having dyslexia and have not come to the attention of the National Educational Psychological Service.

In these cases, NUI will accept a recent report (no more than two or three years old) from a professional psychologist. There is a special form for this available on the NUI website, www.nui.ie.

Students applying for exemption from a third language based on dyslexia need to send in a school record form completed by the principal.

Sometimes students apply for an exemption only from the third language or more typically, only from Irish. Where a student with serious dyslexia is continuing with a language, NUI are prepared to consider such applications. The position of students with dyslexia is complex and exemptions are not automatic. However, NUI is sympathetic to students who can provide professional evidence of the effect of dyslexia on their language abilities.

Brian Mooney is a former president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors.