Anna Kern, an asylum seeker from Ukraine with her Leaving Cert results, her mother, Lyudmyla Kyrychenko and sister, Olga Kyrychenko
Anna Kern, 19, originally from the Ukraine but who is seeking asylum in Ireland, and who is living in a direct provision centre in Limerick, received 575 points in her Leaving Cert.
Anna had hopes to study physiotherapy in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, which would cost €25,000 a year for four years.
But, as her mother is not allowed to work and because asylee students are treated as international students, she couldn’t afford fees for third-level education.
However, on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland, Anna, who hopes to study physiotherapy, just told the show:
“[Education Minister] Jan O’Sullivan said I should accept my offer on Monday. She contacted the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin and she will, they will together find a way. I think that’s great and I want to thank Jan O’Sullivan for her help and support. This means, if I get a place on Monday, I could accept it.”
Meanwhile…
If @JanOSullivanTD can help one asylum seeker go to college, why not all? I know many others who are being charged international fees.
— Brian O'Connell (@oconnellbrian) August 14, 2015
Limerick asylum seeker got 575 points in Leaving Cert (Limerick Leader)
Asylum seeker students ‘abandoned’ by system (Irish Times)
Pic: Adrian Butler/LImerick Leader
The cynic in me thinks there’s a cynic in Jan.
……..coming over here, passing our exams
Taking our points!
…and college places !
…not that I’d have gotten into ‘that’ college :) Fair play to her!
Great, can’t wait to head to head over the the Indo and Jrnl to read the hate filled comments.
The response to this has been shocking, this is an extremely clever girl who in the future could potentially create many a job in Ireland. Unfortunately the “I’m not a rascist but” mob cannot get over their xenophobia.
Who are this mob you speak of? Ireland is one of the best countries in the world to be an immigrant in. I know many people on here will do anything to find the racism instead of the welcome. Its suits your agenda better.
Check out any article on immigration in the Indo, IT, or Journal if you want to burst that bubble. I don’t know if it’s targeted trolling but it makes depressing reading.
You forgot Feckbook, which is like Youtube ….except you can see who the dicks are on Feckbook.
The Indo and the journal are not where i get my news from. You should get out more. We are an example to many other countries in how welcoming we have been and how people have integrated.
You are obviously a simpleton if you think that. Have you not heard of what goes on in the direct provision centres? we have made people looking for safety into prisoners.
Bit rose-tinted there Tony. Nowhere is as welcoming as you claim to immigrants/migrants/asylum seekers
Of course I have heard what is going on, Ive seen it. People leave their horrible countries where they are raped, tortured and killed and come to Ireland where they are not. Then we try and do our best under law and obligation to do what we can, and 90% of people are more than happy that their lives are saved/improved. there will always be the whiners like yourselves who only want to see the bad. Enjoy your day!
Eh, Tony, that’s just not what we do. Go and look a bit more closely into it.
Reading Tony’s posts on BS today you would get the impression that nothing bad ever happens in Ireland.
The Irish Independent always stirs the emotions of morons through it’s snide coverage of race and immigration issues.
They are a scumbag newspaper for scumbag readers.
‘irish voice’ on facebook will have you seething with rage instantly.
Genuine question – where has the response to this been negative or shocking?
Give this page another ten minutes.
She probably cheated.
She is not an EU citizen. She does not have residency in ireland. I don’t see why the rules should be broken for her.
If the state were to pay for her to go to college (and other exceptional students who happen to be asylum seekers), perhaps she (like many other non nationals) will have the potential to contribute greatly to Irish society? We’ve a health crisis where our Irish born doctors are going overseas for better opportunities, those countries offer our ilk the opportunity to better themselves abroad, why can’t we do the same?
Agree. The fact that the Minister jumped quickly to bend the rules is a real slap in the face for those students and their families who have to shell out large amounts on fees and expenses. She only did that to save face by the looks of things.
“Hate filled comments…….”? Really? Wanting the rules to be applied is “hate filled”. I suggest you are a little hysterical.
Not a Racist mob but realists. It is a very bad precedent to set giving preference and bending the rules for one person over another . That is not how democray works. If the minister was bending the rules and making exception for a middle class taxpaying family , giving them grants that others were not recieving would thta be racist?
Savage result! Well done.
Smart girl, well done. Now, lets all break the rules for her. After all, it is Ireland. Please let me know how many points in the leaving are required for the rules to be broken (i.e what’s the minimum we’ll accept 550, 500?) and is there a preferred country of origin/ethnic group for which the rules only apply in the Irish sense of the word.
Bingo. I don’t think a Nigerian boy with 400 points would be granted an audience with a minister.
Sadly, I think you are right.
Maybe with a Tory peer.
God, ye won’t be happy till ye find the racism. How dos your day work? Always tut tutting! Isntitjustawful!!!! The Shame! Wheres my quill till I write to the Times!
Higher, the bar is now set at 575
“Asylum seeker from Ukraine”
Really!
Yes.
There is a war going on there or didn’t you know that.
There’s a dispute in Crimea. The rest of Ukraine is just fine. Didn’t you know that!
-5 points
This is true.
I’m 100% in support of this girl and her family living and working in Ireland. Best of luck to them.
But the notion that they are claiming asylum here from the Ukraine is very odd. They may be doing, as I might well do in their circumstances, what they need to do to come and make a better life here. It’s absurd that this means they must suggest that they are refugees and claim asylum.
Crimea has already gone back to Russia and the Russian separatists are fighting in the east of the country to rejoin Russia but the whole country is in turmoil.
This is the first news item that comes up on Google for Kiev:
http://www.politico.eu/article/kievs-hipster-revolution-russia-ukraine-culture/
Ok, it’s just one article. And the country is at war. But the notion that the whole country is inhospitable is wrong. Sure you’d go to Kiev for a long-weekend.
I can cherry pick articles to support my point too!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7925dacc-369c-11e5-bdbb-35e55cbae175.html#axzz3imYWHqX8
It seems you can’t.
Um, yes…. It’s a fairly unstable country.
Or it could be that despite our excellent skills in reading the first page of Google searches, neither you or I have any in depth understanding of the current political and defence situation in a country far removed from our daily lives, which the media doesn’t report heavily on for a number of reasons, one of which is probably not annoying Russia too much.
You think western media is deliberately playing down Russia’s activities in eastern Ukraine so as to appease them?
If only I was a media mogul, then I could tell you
Your claims have said far more than real evidence ever could Don.
I’ll bow to your superior insider knowledge of European political relations than news. Must be a busy day at NATO.
Should I bring up the fact that they shot a passenger plane out of the sky now or later…?
Amsterdam it ain’t.
Shur didn’t the Quinn family get the feck out of Ukraine.
Has young Petey Quinn returned to this jurisdiction from the North yet?
Anyone who wants to go to RCSI has to pay. What’s her problem?
Btw, it’s Ukraine, not the Ukraine.
Stop pretending you don’t get the issue at hand.
No it’s not.
It’s Україна
Go on Jan, ya hero!
This one is far too easy for the do gooder liberals to jump on the bandwagon. It seems once you criticize anything regarding race, ethnicity, sexuality, anything from the non liberal thought process then you’re going to be deemed a racist, homophobic dinosaur. This girl clearly has brains to burn but so do lots of folks from lots of other places. Lots of people will get left out because of the system. Blame the system if you will but making exceptions like this without first changing the system is only going to make any future decisions more contentious. She wont be alone in not getting a placing. Where do we stop!
So all the kids with brains must be left to languish while the whole system is overhauled? Of course this is unfair, but it’ a relatively small unfairness in the face of massive, institutionalised unfairness. Cases like this highlight deficiencies, and just because you can’t help all doesn’t mean you shouldn’t help who you can. That only increases the numbers of lives wasted while waiting for reform.
There are millions of other smart kids in the world that won’t get a 100k rcsi education. Are their lives wasted?
If they do really well in the Leaving Cert but can’t parlay that into the decent third level education of their choice, it’s certainly an awful lot of effort down the tubes.
You’re making a casual assumption that they didn’t actually learn something useful while they were studying for the leaving cert.
I’m making the casual, but by no means definitive, assumption, that anyone with sufficiently high points who does not attend third level education may end up wasting their potential.
I think it’s great that this girl is going to RCSI. Her talents won’t go to waste now.
I can’t help thinking it’s a PR stunt on the part of the minister though. She wouldn’t have done this only for the publicity over the last few days. You can sure if the girl was a Muslim, this would not have happened.
Tell that to the son of a Skip lorry who (who scored the same points) from Longford who earns too much for a grant yet doesn’t have enough to fund college. In an ideal world everyone should get to go on to do what they want to do, particularly if they’ve achieved the results required. This ain’t no ideal world. You want to create a divide then there it is. Don’t blame the resentful son of the lorry driver, don’t blame the extremely clever girl form Ukraine, blame the system which, ironically, is about to be abandoned by the very people who enforce it simply to grab a PR opportunity . Excuse my cynicism on this one.
Well done to that girl by the way. We can do with brains like that here after our extensive brain drain the last few years.
A skip lorry’s son got those marks? Wow, technology sure has evolved since my time.
Ha!
I agree with Punches here.
Jan is setting herself up for some divided opinion…. if she can do it for the girl from Ukraine, why not the Skip lorry drivers’ son. Bang o’ PR off it.
But Punches, can you provide a link to this Skip lorry drivers story, thanks.
“But Punches, can you provide a link to this Skip lorry drivers story, thanks”
Sadly not but I have attached a link to picture of some kittens by way of compensation
http://www.bing.com/images/search?
q=picture+of+kittens&view=detailv2&&id=AEEEAB3120DE1D628C87290DBB69C8C71F765AA7&selectedIndex=8&ccid=XfHowK0z&simid=608047729182116974&thid=OIP.M5df1e8c0ad331d21a3298d5845cf2a58H0
Ah, so it’s makey-uppy.
Anecdotaluppy even….. pffft !
The best kind of evidence!!
Punches, his fees are paid by the state so he only pays registration. Is it the cost of living away from home that’s the issue?
Fair play to her doing so well and getting a place but this is so typical this poor girl will be fed to the media by government as look we are helping asylum seekers but don’t look at all the other kids over hear trapped in direct provision centres that are run for profit and not the benefit of the people staying in them.
Great to have your mind made up despite the evidence isn’t it?
What evidence?
+1
Some of the best business decisions ever made in this country was by people opening up their premises to host asylum seekers.
It seems to be very profitable considering one of the companies running these centres seen an 11% increase in profits this year.
Could she not defer by a year and then qualify under the scheme i.e has resided in Ireland for 3 years.She could do the degree in UCD as opposed to Royal College of Surgeons, only fee payable being one of registration. No rules broken, no preferential treatment given for those who achieve higher points, law being seen to be applied fairly to all.
Just to clarify something about RCSI, it is no longer a fee paying college (for Irish students anyway) – only cost is the registration costs which are the same amount as any other Irish 3rd level institution, and those on grants don’t have to pay these (as in any other college). I know this from personal experience as a current RCSI student on a grant.
I’m conflicted on this- while its nice for this individual it does send out a message that if you are photogenic and smart then we can just ignore all our immigration rules.
I have more respect for Angela Merkel who had to tell that Palestinian girl to her crying face (ON TV!) that while she has sympathy for her she can’t break the rules for just one person when there are hundreds of thousands of others who want the same thing.
Sadly this is Ireland where as we all know, the rules mean nothing if a politician wants a good headline.
Nailed it.
… that or we could just forget the rules for everyone and plough on :-)
Didn’t that Palestinean girl end up being allowed to stay?
Kunle should’ve studied harder
“Anna had hopes to study physiotherapy in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, which would cost €25,000 a year for four years.
But, as her mother is not allowed to work and because asylee students are treated as international students, she couldn’t afford fees for third-level education.”
Sorry, why are we forking out 100k over four years here? Genuinely looking for the reason.
I know a girl from SA who couldn’t go to college to study veterinary medicine as her parents weren’t in Ireland long enough for her to qualify for free fees scheme. She had 500+ points too. I can’t help but think this is a publicity stunt on behalf of the minister but I do wish the girl well. She is clearly incredibly bright and I hope that she succeeds just as well at third level, but I can’t help but feel that for every 1 Anna, there are 10 other kids who aren’t getting the same publicity or opportunities.
This reality of immigration. A massive cost to the exchequer.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/my-children-have-experienced-things-they-shouldn-t-1.2316401
I know it’s summer but so much cherry-picking going on!!
As the average immigrant to Ireland is more qualified than Irish people, I doubt that.
http://www.thejournal.ie/immigrants-ireland-education-qualification-new-2199098-Jul2015/
Yes, its the journal but they link to the report.
The average immigrant is more qualified than the average Irish person. The average asylum seeker is in all probability less qualified than the average Irish person. Don’t think we’re complaining about people legally migrating and coming to work for Google, Facebook etc. This isn’t UKIP style “they’re coming over here and taking our jobs”. This is more a concern about the costs of housing and social services for refugees, asylum seekers and unemployed economic immigrants who are coming through numerous countries before ending up here.
The original post was about immigration. Not my fault if people can’t tell the two apart even though it’s pretty clear. People who claim about asylum seekers are very quick to point out short term costs but not long term benefits or costs. Let’s have dinner balance eh? I more that’s probably too much to ask.
And that story does not make it clear how this family came to have residency.
It’s not even asylum seekers. That homeless Romanian family were also in paid rental accomodation. Each family probably costing the state 2,500 a month indefinitely. That’s 5-10 workers paying tax just to support these people.
The woman in your story is Irish, therefore entitled to that assistance. And its not a great story for what you are arguing as she had tried to work but couldn’t with child care while waiting for her husband. I think you must want one of those nice “scrounging” families.
As for your Romanians, no link? If they passed the requirements, they also qualify.
You want to change the situation? Campaign fit good, cheap childcare so families can support themselves would be a great start.
Fair play to the ‘Trainwreck’ PR.
Amy Schumer is omnipresent.
She’s even doing the Leaving Cert in Limerick.
First of all, congrats. Second of all, studying in Dublin is expensive for anyone. She’s in Limerick – why not study physiotherapy in UL?
I don’t have the 6k I need to pay for my children to attend College this year. WIll Jan send a few quid around? Election time looms.
Have you considered halving your costs and eating one of them?
You should have crushed their dreams of further education sooner
How Ireland Works:
1. We have a problem
2. How can our friends make money from this and bribe us to legislate for it.
3. Oh we still have the problem
4. But we all got rich off not fixing it
5. Hold an inquiry so our barrister friends can make money off the fallout
6. See 1.
Just to clarify something about RCSI, it is no longer a fee paying college (for Irish students anyway) – only cost is the registration costs which are the same amount as any other Irish 3rd level institution, and those on grants don’t have to pay these (as in any other college). I know this from personal experience as a current RCSI student on a grant.
The question is why the foop is medicine so expensive? Lower the fees, lower the points required and let applicants looking to actually care for people apply as opposed to the greedy cnuts who get in because daddy was a doctor.
your question/answer demonstrates a lack a basic understanding of how places are allocated as well as lacking understanding of a few aspects of irish society. Have a chat with the Ukranian, she will explain it to you.