Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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734. To ask the Minister for Health whether the medical school which the Secretary General of his Department suggested will be established by TU Dublin will be located on the Tallaght campus; when the first intake of students is expected; and if the TU Dublin governing body had approved the proposal for a medical school prior to the Secretary General's comments at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health (details supplied). [33749/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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A draft concept proposal to create a new medical school in Dublin has been submitted to the Department. The Department is examining the concept proposal and will be consulting with the Medical Council and other relevant bodies as appropriate.

Programmes of basic medical education and the bodies that deliver these programmes are approved by the Medical Council in accordance with the Medical Practitioners Act 2007. The Council is responsible for quality assuring medical education and training in Ireland across the continuum spanning the undergraduate, intern and specialist training stages of professional development. The Council uses the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) 2015 Global Standards to do this.

The draft proposal received is at early stage in development. The assessment process for a medical education programme requires a large amount of documentation review, surveys of trainers, site visits by assessors and following the award of conditional approval, interviewing of the first cohort of students as they progress. Medical Council staff are keen to support medical schools in preparing for accreditation and will offer to meet with the medical school representatives at the beginning of the process, to provide guidance and information on the process and requirements of the accreditation.