Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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836. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated annual cost to the Exchequer of doubling the number of healthcare college places in nursing, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and health and social care professions. [42414/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are autonomous institutions responsible for their own academic affairs including the curriculum and student numbers on individual courses. The costs incurred by a HEI in increasing student places on a particular course or establishing an additional course can vary depending on a variety factors including the type of course and the individual circumstances of the relevant HEI.

Where additionally is required on courses or a new course is required, specific engagement with the sector and external stakeholders is very often required. This process allows for a deeper consideration of wider issues such as capacity, staffing, other supports, availability of placements, capital investment in buildings and equipment etc. It is therefore, not possible to definitively calculate the costs of increasing or doubling places, in the absence of a specific engagement with the sector.

The delivery of healthcare programmes is complex and requires multiple parts of the health and education systems working together.

It should be noted that in recent years there has been a substantial expansion of key healthcare places in Higher Education Institutions in Ireland.

On 18th October 2024, following recommendations received from the HEA, I announced that several universities will establish new programmes in key healthcare areas. These programmes were a new Bachelor of Dental Surgery in RCSI, new Pharmacy programmes in South East Technological University, Atlantic Technological University and the University of Galway, a new Rural and Remote Graduate Entry Medicine stream in the University of Galway, and Direct Entry Medicine in the University of Limerick.

This announcement I believe demonstrates our shared ambition and commitment to improving healthcare for those in our communities, and providing students with more opportunities to study in Ireland for those who are passionate to work in healthcare professions.

It builds on additionality delivered in recent years which has seen over 460 permanent new higher education healthcare places created in September 2023 in Irish HEIs, and further capacity created in Northern Ireland, where an additional 25 medicine places are being funded by the Irish state in Queens University Belfast, and a further 25 students next year, as well as an additional 80 places in allied healthcare disciplines in Ulster University in September 2023 were created for students from this jurisdiction.

Enhancing student capacity to meet projected workforce demand is a key consideration of workforce planning and is key to enabling further expansion on these programmes. Practice education placements are essential to support clinical skills development and the application of theory to patient care and attainment of regulatory required standards of proficiency where applicable.

Extensive engagement is ongoing between officials in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and officials in the Department of Health, as well as the HSE and higher education sector. Work is underway on the oversight and infrastructure for clinical placements to enable further expansion.