Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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571. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of those studying medicine in higher education institutions in the State at present who are non-EU students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22070/26]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I am committed to expanding the number of medicine and healthcare places across higher education in supporting government colleagues to address workforce shortages and ensure Ireland can meet our growing healthcare needs.

The Deputy may be aware of the landmark agreement with Irish Medical Schools in July 2022 to provide an additional 200 EU places on Medicine programmes at sustainable rates of funding; this agreement has positively moved the dial on the proportion of Irish/EU students studying medicine in Ireland. The most recent data available from the Higher Education Authority shows the overall proportion of EU students to non EU students on undergraduate Medicine programmes is 51% EU and 49% non EU. Graduate entry breakdown by domicile is 53% EU and 47% non EU.

A key priority for my Ministry is an expansion in places on medical programmes. In 2026, 20 further medicine places will be added to complete the 200-place expansion agreed in July 2022, while the University of Limerick will introduce its new direct-entry Medicine programme with 30 places, bringing the confirmed increase for 2026 to 50 places. Additional expansion will follow with the University of Galway’s new Rural & Remote Graduate Entry Medicine programme from 2027. Further more as stated in the programme for government I have asked my officials to engage with their counterparts across government to explore a range of options to support students undertaking graduate entry medicine which will inform my consideration for future estimates processes.

My Department and the Department of Health are also co-funding 50 direct entry medicine places for students who entered Queen’s University Belfast in 2024 and 2025. My officials have ongoing engagement with counterparts in Northern Ireland on further expansion across medicine, nursing and allied health disciplines.

This medical expansion sits within a broader, sustained increase in healthcare education capacity across the system. New programmes have been introduced in Nursing at Maynooth University, Dentistry at RCSI, Pharmacy at the University of Galway and ATU, and Physiotherapy at ATU.

Veterinary Medicine programmes at both SETU and ATU will open in 2026, providing 80 additional places and doubling national training capacity.

Pharmacy will also commence in SETU in 2026, adding 36 further places. These expansions, supported by significant investment I have assigned from my capital budget, aim to ensure a long-term, sustainable pipeline of domestically trained healthcare professionals.