Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 February 2026
497. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Health the steps that are being taken to expand training places and HSE employment for optometrists, orthoptists, and ophthalmologists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15741/26]
View answerDepartment of Health officials engage on an ongoing basis with colleagues in the HSE and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science 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 health and social care workforce planning.
Workforce modelling undertaken by my department indicates that Ireland will require approximately 60 additional optometry graduates annually by 2030 to meet projected service demand. Optometrists are a relatively new grade and profession in the HSE. At present, there is one optometry programme at Technological University Dublin, which produces approximately 30 to 35 graduates each year. There is strong and sustained student demand for optometry training, as demonstrated by consistently high CAO points and strong application levels, indicating clear potential to expand education provision over time. There are currently 1,057 optometrists registered with CORU, up from 995 in 2023 and 895 in 2020.
More broadly, the Government has made substantial progress since 2022 expanding healthcare education capacity as part of long-term workforce planning. This includes an increase of 200 medical training places by 2026, significant expansion in nursing education, and significant growth in pharmacy and dentistry programmes. In particular, in June 2025, the Government announced major expansion in Health and Social Care Profession Training Places, with 461 new places to be delivered in nine priority disciplines by 2028. This expansion will see up to 315 additional student places created in 2025, up to 123 additional places in 2026, and the remainder in subsequent years, in disciplines critical to disability, health, and education services.
This expansion reflects a coordinated cross-government workforce planning approach involving my Department, the Department of Further and Higher Education, the HSE, and the Higher Education Authority (HEA), ensuring education capacity aligns with service demand.
A further Expression of Interest (EOI) process for HSCPs is scheduled to be conducted by the HEA in early 2026. This will provide an important opportunity for Higher Education Institutions to propose new training programmes and expand existing ones in high-priority areas related to the Health, Disability and Education sectors.
While that upcoming expansion process will prioritise specific therapy disciplines, my department will continue to engage with DFHERIS and the higher education sector regarding other priority professions including optometry and orthoptics as part of longer-term workforce planning for the heath and social care sector.
Overall, my department remains committed to strengthening workforce planning across the health and social care sector, to ensure patients have timely access to high-quality care both in hospitals and in community settings.
In 2017, the HSE published a National Clinical Programme for Ophthalmology, which set out a model of care regarding how the realignment of eye services from an acute hospital setting to the community would be undertaken. The HSE continues to progress implementation of the Primary Eye Care Model of Care, which supports delivery of integrated eye care services across hospital and community settings.
• The HSE has been developing multidisciplinary Integrated Eye Care Teams in accordance with this model of care. These teams facilitate assessment, diagnoses, management and treatment, and in some cases pre-op/post-op care, enabling most patients to be seen in their own locality. Where necessary, patients can be referred onwards to acute Ophthalmology services to receive the necessary specialist input.
• The Model of Care recommended the reconfiguration of the Medical Ophthalmology training pathway to support community-based integrated eye care teams, and the HSE has supported this through development of a defined entry point for specialist training in Medical Ophthalmology, in collaboration with the Irish College of Ophthalmologists, and the associated development of training posts. Training numbers across both the surgical and medical Ophthalmology specialist pathways are reviewed annually, taking account of service need, workforce projections and training capacity.
• The Programme for Government: Securing Ireland’s Future contains a commitment to review the National Clinical Programme for Ophthalmology to ensure more eye services are provided in the community. Engagement with relevant stakeholders regarding this is ongoing.
