Increasing education and training places in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, veterinary medicine and other key healthcare disciplines is a priority for my Department. In recent years, substantial progress has been made in expanding EU-funded places across these programmes, aligned with national workforce planning. This includes 200 additional EU undergraduate medicine places, 80 new EU veterinary medicine places from September 2026, new and expanded EU dentistry places, including 20 Irish/EU places at RCSI from 2025, 161 additional EU pharmacy places, and very significant growth in the therapy professions, with physiotherapy training capacity increasing by approximately 80% since 2023.
This expansion is informed by HEA data on enrolments, progression and graduate output, alongside workforce planning and demand information, and is delivered in close collaboration with higher education institutions, relevant Government Departments, and professional and regulatory bodies.
Under legislation, higher education institutions are autonomous in admissions decisions, including the balance of EU and non-EU students. Undergraduate places for EU applicants are allocated through the CAO on a competitive, merit-based basis, with random selection applied where demand exceeds supply in line with published procedures. The available evidence shows that EU-domiciled students, including Irish students, continue to form the majority of entrants and graduates across these programmes.
While non-EU students contribute to the financial sustainability of high-cost clinical programmes, the State has invested heavily in expanding domestic capacity. Around 1,000 permanent places have been added in high-demand CAO courses in recent years, and €28.5 million has been allocated to support the delivery of over 1,100 additional healthcare education places annually over the next three years.
Further expansion is now being progressed through a Higher Education Authority-led Expression of Interest process, which has commenced and is focused primarily on additional places in the therapy and disability-related disciplines, in response to persistent workforce shortages.
