Will be fully honest based on my experiences and colleagues who have gone through 3 Irish schools.
Irish med schools are not the Carib and do not want to be seen as the equivalent of those who admit less academically inclined US and Canadian grads. They don't care about making money off 1000s of low tier grads. They want to train their students to prepare them for work in Ireland. They are looking out for the best interests of the Irish students and population. Yes, the few who are admitted from abroad generate higher tuition and many schools know that these students ultimately will likely want to go home, but this is not the priority, which explains why only 1 or 2 schools make time for USMLE prep seminars or give students time to travel to USA for interviews or electives. You get into Ireland, it's on you to arrange everything you need to return home, otherwise be happy to work as a doc in Ireland.
Note that some changes are being made in the near future and with the way things are going in the EU with finances and immigration, EU countries are very nationalistic and will put the priorities of their population ahead of anyone else (i.e. foreing med students). New rules are basically in place to give residency and job priorities to born nationals ahead of anyone else (including foreigners who might have an EU passport by birth or from their parents heritage).
Irish med stats vary. The process is holistic and over the years people with ranges of MCATs from the high 20s and above, and 3.0 GPAs and above have been granted a seat. With that said, RCSI has stated that the minimum MCAT = 30; I would say most schools want about a 30 and will only consider a lower score if you have a much higher GPA to balance it or some really impressive work/school experience (e.g. nursing experience or a PhD or working as a paramedic etc). In all honestly, a 28, 2.7 seems low to me. If you pull up the GPA to be over 3.5 and build in some other excellent experiences or publications, you might have a shot. If you cannot pull up the GPA but feel you can do much much better on the MCAT consider retaking. I have heard of people with 2.9 and 3.0 GPAs getting in, but their scores on the MCAT were 35+.
