Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the vote of confidence in me. This is a very important issue for his constituent and I will certainly take it up with the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. I need to be clear for the record of the House. The initiative I am talking about has not yet commenced. It is commencing from September. We are not currently funding those places for students in Northern Ireland. It is a statement of fact that students in Northern Ireland pay much higher fees than students here. A registration fee in Ireland is €3,000 and we have reduced it for two years in a row to €2,000, in addition to SUSI support, student grants and the likes. In Northern Ireland, people pay many multiples of that and many avail of student loans and the like. What I want to do, and I am working with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to do it, is put in place a system where students from this jurisdiction can study medicine in Northern Ireland at the rates we charge here, not the higher rates in Northern Ireland, and that we would look to bridge the gap.

We have presided over the biggest increase in medicine places in the Republic of Ireland in many years, with 60 extra places in 2022, 60 in 2023 and 40 more places this year, as well as the discussions with Northern Ireland, for all the reasons the Deputy rightly outlined. Our people need more doctors. On the specific issue, I am very happy to co-ordinate a response to the Deputy and to engage with the Minister for Health.

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