In May 2002, my predecessor, Deputy Woods, announced the provision of 175 additional therapy training places to tackle the shortage of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists as identified by the report, Current and Future Supply and Demand Conditions in the Labour Market for Certain Professional Therapists, which was undertaken by Dr. Peter Bacon and Associates in 2001. The announcement followed on the work of an inter-agency working group comprising representatives from my Department, the Department of Health and Children and the Higher Education Authority, which was established to ensure the provision of these extra places and which considered proposals received from a number of third level institutions for the expansion of existing courses and-or the introduction of new courses, including graduate entry programmes.
The distribution of the additional places is as follows: University College Cork, National University of Ireland, 25 places – bachelor of science in speech and language therapy, and 25 places – bachelor of science in occupational therapy; National University of Ireland, Galway, 25 places – bachelor of science in speech and language therapy, and 25 places – bachelor of science in occupational therapy; University of Limerick, 25 places – master of science in speech and language therapy, 25 places – master of science in occupational therapy, and 25 places – bachelor of science in physiotherapy.