Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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126. To ask the Minister for Health the number of medical graduates at all clinical levels who graduated since 2020 and who are currently employed in the HSE; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52552/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Medical schools do not provide the HSE with a list of names or individual details of graduates, and therefore the HSE is not in a position to track employment of medical graduates in the format requested.

The HSE does track the number of CAO students who enter employment with the HSE as interns. In 2024, 674 exchequer-funded CAO applicants were offered and accepted intern posts in the first round. Subsequently, 76 non-CAO EEA and work permit exempt applicants, and 129 non-EEA applicants, took up posts.

It should be noted that some graduates leave the HSE after completing their internship year. While the majority return at some point, the HSE does not maintain data on the long-term employment patterns of these cohorts.

The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the total number of medical graduates in Ireland since 2020 is not held by the Health Service Executive (HSE). Data on graduate numbers is a matter for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, as the HSE does not fund or set the number of medical school places.