Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 April 2026
380. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the reason for the lack of financial support available for students pursuing essential master’s degrees, particularly in healthcare-related fields, in private college (details supplied). [27473/26]
View answerThe main support available to assist students with the cost of attending higher education is the Student Grant Scheme. Under the Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to eligible students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means.
The definition of an approved institution is set out in Section 7 of the Student Support Act 2011 and Regulation 3 of the Student Support Regulations 2026. Private colleges operated on a for-profit basis, are not listed as approved institutions for student grant purposes. A student attending a private college which is not listed in the Student Support Regulations 2026 would not be eligible for funding under the Student Grant Scheme 2026.
It is open to higher education institutions that operate on a 'for profit' basis to use their own resources to provide financial supports to any of their students that they consider to be in particular need.
However, I would like to point out that a significant expansion of student places in healthcare courses is underway across the publicly funded higher education system, with over 1,100 additional places approved in recent years across medicine, nursing and a wide range of allied health and therapy disciplines. These increases are providing more opportunities for students to access healthcare programmes through the CAO, with further additional places coming on stream in 2026 across areas including medicine, nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy, dentistry and veterinary medicine.
In addition, my Department will shortly launch an Expression of Interest process, commencing in the coming weeks, focused on further expanding therapy places to support disability and wider public health services. This will support the development of new programmes and the scaling up of existing provision in areas such as occupational therapy and physiotherapy, continuing the focus on increasing the number of publicly funded places available to students pursuing healthcare careers.
