A TWO-TIER system operates in education here whereby people from outside the EU can buy into medicine courses but Irish people cannot, an economist has told the High Court.
Colm McCarthy, a consultant economist and UCD lecturer, said a two-tier system would also operate if Irish people could simply pay for medical places.
“The existing system is a two-tier system in which it says if you get terrific [Leaving Cert] points and are Irish, you can get in. If you do not and are from outside the EU and you are able to pay, you can also get in,” he said.
Mr McCarthy was giving evidence on the second day of an action by a Dublin student who wants to study medicine but who failed to secure the points required.
Frank Prendergast (20), Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, claims the current policy is unfair because some non-EU students have obtained a place with lower academic scores than his.
He wants a court order overturning the direction from the Higher Education Authority and the Minister for Education which limits the number of places which may be offered to Irish and EU students on medicine degree courses.
Mr Prendergast brought the proceedings after he offered to pay to pursue the course in any of the five institutions offering it but was told only non-EU students could be enrolled on that basis.
Mr Prendergast, now studying pharmacy, claims a discriminatory policy is being operated in allocating a number of places to paying non-EU students while refusing the same to Irish and EU students who can also pay.
The HEA and the Minister deny the claims and contend they are entitled to make medical places available to non-EU students because their fees part-fund the courses of EU students.
Michael McDowell SC, for Mr Prendergast, said the “elitist nature” of Irish medicine and the huge number of points required to get into it meant most of the registrars jobs in Irish hospitals were filled by foreign graduates.
The court was told that there was a major reform of medical education which increased the number of places for EU students from 305 to 725 per annum (485 undergraduate places and 240 in a new graduate-entry programme).
Under reforms due next year, the points required will be reduced to 480 along with an aptitude test.
Under cross-examination, Mr McCarthy said the problem of having to get money from foreign students to fund the system was self-inflicted by the abolition of university fees. An alternative would be a bursary system for lower-income families with others paying.
The case continues today.