Hello,
Atlantic Bridge extends its deadline every year as they know that some students will get into US and Canada medical schools and they dont want the number of applications to go down.
This is not something new for this year.
Answering your question, TCD does have a minimum GPA that they consider for their 5 year program which is 3.3 GPA. NUIG doesnt have any minimum GPA listed but, the students I know who got in, had higher GPAs. This is also because, NUIG and TCD do not require MCAT and they do not conduct interviews, therefore a students acceptance is heavily focused on their GPA, extra curriculars and personal statement that they submit. (Not to forget, letter of recommendations are extremely important as well).
The good news is that Irish medical schools have a holistic approach to deciding who gets in. So, if you think that your extra curriculars and other parts of application are really strong, you should definitely give it a shot.