PRESS RELEASE

02/02/2006

UCC must gain from Táiniste’s €200m boost for medical schools - Kelleher

Cork North-Central Fianna Fáil TD Billy Kelleher has said University College Cork must be central to the Government’s €200 million plan to to revamp medical education and training.

Deputy Kelleher, assistant Government chief whip, said the medical school in UCC sends the country’s highest calibre medical graduates into the labour force each year but the number of places available in the college for trainee doctors must be increased.

‘Under the new scheme, undergraduate medical places for Irish and EU students will be more than doubled to 725. That move is very encouraging and should have the effect of reducing the entry- level points requirement for Leaving Certificate students.

‘Nationally, the undergraduate medical places for Irish and EU students has been capped at 305 since 1978. I would like to see that number increased in UCC to bring in new students and boost the city’s student population.

‘If more resources are needed for extra facilities and staff to make that happen, they should be provided under the Govermment’s €200 million plan,’ said Deputy Kelleher.

He said the plan to change the way students gain entry to medical courses is well overdue.

‘The development of a new aptitude test and proposals to change to the current CAO selection method to a combination of CAO points and suitability test performance from 2008 is very welcome. The medical profession is practical and highly skilled and academic performance alone may not always determine how suitable students are to practise medicine.

‘We should aim to drop the entry-level points to at least 450. That is still only 16 per cent of students but it is much better than demanding an almost perfect Leaving Certificate to get into medicine. UCC has much to gain from the plan and I will be keeping the college on the prority list in Government,’ said Deputy Kelleher.

ENDS