A student has brought a High Court action alleging he cannot get a place on a medicine undergraduate degree course at an Irish third level institution because of an “unfair policy” of limiting the number of places for Irish and EU citizens on such courses.
Frank Prendergast secured six As in honours subjects in his Leaving Certificate in 2007 and achieved a total of 550 points, just below the 570 points required to secure a place on a degree course in medicine.
He said he then wrote to the five institutions here who offer medicine seeking a place on the courses and offered to pay the same fees charged to non-EU students for whom places are set aside for in medical courses.
He claims he was refused a place because the colleges involved are prevented by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Minister for Education from giving EU citizens a place on a medical undergraduate course unless they obtain the required points.
In his High Court proceedings against the HEA and the Minister, he claims they have directed the colleges to drastically reduce the number of places for EU citizen students in medicine courses.
He contends this is unfair to EU students especially as some of the non-EU students have obtained a place despite having lower academic scores than those obtained by him.
He also claims the non-EU students admitted to medicine are not generally selected by reference to policies to assist disadvantaged communities or states.
He claims the “unlawful limits” on the numbers of Irish/Eu medical students has led to major shortages of Irish-educated medical practitioners willing to practise here despite the “clear willingness” of many Irish citizens to train and qualify here with a view to practising here.
This has resulted in the filling of posts in the Irish health service by non-EU nationals who are doctors educated outside the EU, he said.
In his action, Mr Prendergast (20), of Clonfadda House, Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, wants a court order requiring the defendants to rescind the directions relating to the number of places they can offer to EU students.
Mr Prendergast is also seeking several declarations from the court including that the limiting of the number of places available to EU students in undergraduate degree courses in medicine is unlawful, lacks statutory foundation, and is unconstitutional.
The defendants deny the claims.
The case is expected to last for several days.
