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30 Sept 2025
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An increase in the number of places available at Irish medical schools has been confirmed.
The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, announced news of the extra 200 places today (Tuesday July 12).
The agreement reached with medical schools country-wide will begin with an additional 60 EU students in September 2022, climbing to 120 in September 2023, and up to 200 by 2026.
Speaking about the news, Minister Harris said, "These places have been created following extensive engagement over the last few months with all Irish medical schools.
"It 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.
"It is vital as we expand and reform our third level system that we prioritise the areas where there is the most need and healthcare is one of those."
Additional places for September 2022 will be distributed across Irish medical schools as follows: Eleven extra undergraduate places each for NUI Galway, Trinity College Dublin, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University College Cork, and University College Dublin, with 5 for the University of Limerick.
Minister Donnelly said the creation of the places allows for "an increase in the number of medical students graduating".
He said, ""[It is] an important step to enable my department and the HSE to plan for the future health workforce.
"We are all aware of the demands we place on those working in the healthcare system, particularly since the onset of the pandemic.
"By increasing the number of doctors in the system, we are taking a step towards addressing the needs of the entire system, to allow it to continue to respond and allowing some much needed support for those frontline workers who have managed so well, caring for people over the course of the pandemic."
The extra places will be funded jointly by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and the Department of Health.
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