Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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762. To ask the Minister for Health if she plans to introduce a second Level 8 University Degree programme for podiatric medicine to effectively address the shortage of qualified podiatrists available to work in the HSE; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35572/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Department of Health officials engage on an ongoing basis with colleagues in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that we train enough graduates with the skills necessary to support the delivery of health and social care services and to develop a strategic approach to workforce planning for the health sector.

Currently there is one Podiatric Medicine programme available in the University of Galway. In September 2023 the University of Galway added an additional 25 places on their Podiatric Medicine undergraduate programme. It is also anticipated that an additional 12 places will be made available in September 2025.

My department is committed to working with our colleagues in DFHERIS to expand training places in health care disciplines to address skills shortage. In April 2025 an interdepartmental working group (IDWG) was established with officials from Departments of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Health, Children, Disability and Equality and Education and Youth, the HSE, and the HEA. The remit of the working group is to expand the provision of training places for health and social care profession (HSCP) disciplines.

The HEA conducted an Expression of Interest Process seeking to identify capacity to increase provision in HSCP training places for nine priority areas. The HEA received 24 submissions across all nine priority disciplines. Following consideration of the results of this Expression of Interest, I, together with my Ministerial colleagues in the Departments of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Children, Equality and Disability, and Education and Youth, sought and received Government approval to expand training places in critical HSCP disciplines to include up to an additional 320 student places in 2025, and a further 141 in subsequent years.

It is the intention of the IDWG to run similar processes in the future to include the development of new higher education programmes in areas of skills shortage.

The HSE has increased its overall workforce by more than 3,000 WTEs since 2023 through a range of strategic initiatives. Their focus remains on identifying and implementing opportunities not only to attract and recruit talent, but also to develop, engage and retain a highly skilled workforce capable of delivering safe, high-quality care to patients, service users and their families across acute, community and residential care settings.

The HSE Employment Reports show that Podiatrists and Chiropodists whole time equivalent (WTE) staff has increased by 75%, from 72 in December 2019 to 126 in May 2025.

The HSE has several initiatives to maximise this valuable candidate pool. Key priority health and social care professional graduates including podiatrists are to be offered permanent contracts of employment in our health service. Every support and encouragement is being afforded to these graduates to encourage them towards employment in the Irish health services.