Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 February 2024
589. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science , further to Parliamentary Question No. 528 of 29 November 2022, the actions he has taken since December 2022 to increase the supply of domestic medical graduates; and the number of domestic medical graduates in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. [5493/24]
View answer590. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science , further to Parliamentary Question No. 528 of 29 November 2022, the actions he has taken since December 2022 to increase the supply of medical graduates from EU countries, excluding Ireland; and the number of medical graduates from EU countries other than Ireland in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. [5494/24]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 589 and 590 together.
My Department is committed to working closely with the Department of Health and its agencies to ensure that the conditions are in place to support further growth in healthcare professions including increasing the supply of Medicine graduates.The number of domestic Medicine graduates and Medicine graduates from other EU countries is currently being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.
There are two main factors driving my approach to addressing issues with medical education - ensuring that we produce enough doctors to meet the requirements of our healthcare system and our society; and providing more places for students, in a context where the level of demand has consistently exceeded the number of places available.
I have been prioritising expanding the overall number of medicine places so that more students will have the opportunity to study medicine, particularly on direct entry programmes. In July 2022 the Minister for Health and I announced an agreement with the Irish medical schools to increase the number of places available for EU students by 200 over the next five years. The agreement reached with the medical schools will began with an additional 60 EU students in September 2022, climbing to 120 in September 2023, and up to 200 by 2026. The July 2022 agreement included Graduate Entry Medicine additional places. To date an additional 10 graduate entry places, 5 in 2022 and another 5 in 2023 have been created, with the other 110 places on direct entry programmes.This marks a significant expansion in the number of places available to students applying through the CAO system. It increases the opportunities for students to progress to study medicine in Ireland and to help us build our talent pipeline.
A number of institutions have put forward proposals outlining options for the expansion of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry and Veterinary programmes but also for the development of entirely new programme following last year’s Higher Education Authority Expression of Interest Process. Detailed discussions need to take place about the ways and means to address capital costs for the provision of any new school - it will naturally take some time for these discussions to reach a conclusion. Engagements are now underway between the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and all Departments commencing in Q1 2024 on the review of the National Development Plan. I will continue to work with my colleagues the Minister for Health and the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in relation to the options identified.
My officials have also been working closely with the institutions in the North and the Departments of Health and Economy, Northern Ireland over the last 18 months, to develop a proposal which would lead to more medical places for Irish students in the North and increase the pool of Irish medical graduates, educated on the island who would be eligible to apply to work in the HSE. The final details of this proposal are still being worked through. I do expect however to be in a position to make a further announcement shortly with relevant information being made publicly available at that time.
With the ongoing expansion in places across our six medical schools, and the additional places I hope to secure in Northern Ireland, by September 2024 we will have delivered a more than 25% increase in places for Irish students relative to September 2021.
My priority is to ensure that we build capacity in a sustainable way which will allow for steady, growth and forward planning by both the health and higher education sectors for a graduate pipeline to meet the needs of the health system and society as a whole.
