Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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107. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the specialist MSc in children’s mental health at Trinity College Dublin (details supplied); the efforts his Department has made to enable this course to continue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40605/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I understand that Trinity College Dublin has suspended the programme, MSc Mental Health, Child, Adolescent and Family Strand for the 2023/24 academic year. This was as I understand it, due to a number of factors which included a decline in applications to single figures in the last year.

Higher Education Institutions are autonomous bodies within the meaning of the Universities Act 1997, the Institutes of Technology Acts 1992 to 2006, and the Technological Universities Act 2018. As such they are autonomous in relation to their administrative and academic affairs and the courses offered by any institution are a matter for the individual institutions to determine.

My officials are actively engaging with the Department of Health, the HSE and other relevant Health and Social Care Profession stakeholders to ensure that we can continue to deliver graduates with the skills necessary to support our healthcare system and support the strategic workforce planning by the health sector.