The introduction by 2006 of a proposed new system of entry into the medical profession could open the way for changes in entry to other caring professions, the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Dempsey, has said.
Mr Dempsey said he would like to see how well the new entry system into medicine worked before considering extending it to other areas such as nursing, teaching and occupational therapy.
Under the plans, presented to Mr Dempsey by a high-level working group, students would no longer be assessed for medical school entry on the basis of their Leaving Certificate results alone.Students reaching the minimum requirement of 450 points would sit an aptitude test to determine whether they were suitable to become a doctor. A quota of places in each of the State's medical schools would also be reserved for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Mr Dempsey said he believed the new system would address the "huge pressures" on Leaving Certificate students by allowing for a "multi-streamed" model of entry into medical education.
The introduction of a graduate entry scheme would also help to ease the pressure on Leaving Certificate students, Mr Dempsey said.
"Students with an honours bachelors degree will be eligible to study medicine, thereby taking the pressure off them to attain extremely high points," he said.
"I am hopeful that these changes to the method of entry to medical education in this country will be introduced as early as the 2006/2007 academic year."
Mr Dempsey said he would be setting up an implementation group which would aim to have the revised measures in place within the target timeframe.
There are some critics of aptitude testing.
In a letter in today's The Irish Times, a consultant at Beaumont Hospital, Prof Ciaran Bolger, says aptitude testing is "a form of pseudo-science" and "about as useful as Tarot card-reading in predicting what somebody will or will not be able to do 10 years from when a test is taken".
"Whatever its faults, the points system in Ireland is fair," he says.
But Professor Muiris FitzGerald, one of those on the working group, yesterday expressed confidence that the new system could be in place by 2006.
He said the the scheme should "enrich the profession and will be of benefit to patients".