Madam, - Your correspondent, John Hurley (August 23rd), argues that repeat Leaving Cert students compete for places in medicine under more favourable conditions than first-timers. Not true. There is a problem in medical training, but it is unfair to place responsibility for it on the shoulders of the highly motivated, energetic, resourceful and, above all, hard-working (attributes that some think should be present in those who qualify as doctors) young people who have realised that, as the system is currently structured, the only way to secure a place in medicine is to plan to do the Leaving Cert over two years instead of one. It is open to all to do this, so therefore there is no inequity.
The problem in medical training here is down to the extraordinary shortage of places, both in terms of demand and by comparison with other jurisdictions. There have been suggestions, in your paper, that this situation is exacerbated by the tendency of colleges to reserve places for non-EU candidates, from whom they receive much more in the way of fees than the amounts paid by the Government for university places under our free third-level education policy. Free education is a political principle and, as such, should be properly funded by the Government. This should certainly not be a problem in the current economic environment, where tax surpluses, in the order of many billions, are regularly recorded.
The Minister for Education has a responsibility in this matter. It was not encouraging to hear the incumbent, Mary Hanafin, make sympathetic noises but declare that she would do nothing without reference to the Minister for Health. The Minister for Health is not on another planet and we have the clear impression that Ms Hanafin is washing her hands of the problem. - Yours, etc,
SEAMUS MCKENNA, Milford Cross, Carlow.