Third Level Admissions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-12
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Matt Carthy (SF), Cavan-Monaghan

Is there a reason the Minister will not answer my question in relation to international students? I have asked it twice now and it was in the written question that was submitted.
Here is what we know. There are areas of speciality for which we have chronic shortages in many parts of this State.
Dentistry, as the Minister, mentioned is an obvious place. The Irish Dental Association has said that one of the issues is that in many courses which the State has provided for dentistry, a significant proportion of places are actually being sold by universities to international students. That is not a meritocracy. That is a problem that we need to address but we cannot address it unless we have the information. Can the Minister provide the information in respect of these vital courses? I accept it is important that there is an element of international students but is it the case that places that should be filled by people coming through the CAO route are ultimately being sold to the highest bidder on the international market?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-12