Student wants help with £30,000 degree

Ireland's top Leaving Certificate student, Ms Aodhnait Ni Fhatnaigh from Cork, has criticised the Government for not contributing…

Ireland's top Leaving Certificate student, Ms Aodhnait Ni Fhatnaigh from Cork, has criticised the Government for not contributing towards the cost of her studies at Oxford and for failing to recognise her academic achievements.

Ms Ni Fhatnaigh (18) also accused her local university, University College Cork, of not being "in the same league" as Oxford University where she will study biochemistry, starting next month.

On RTE Radio's News At One, she estimated her four-year course would cost about £30,000.

Speaking about the Government's response to her success, the student from Christ the King Secondary School near Douglas said: "It's very disappointing the Government couldn't even acknowledge it. "Not even a card, it was the best Leaving Certificate result in the country, there's never been higher than nine A1s and there's not been a medal or anything like that," she said.

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Nobody from UCC was available for comment last night, but the university's website says its biochemistry department has "internationally recognised research expertise in a number of areas".