Healthcare education places to increase with €28.5m Government investment
17 February 2026
More than 3,000 additional training places will be made available nationwide over the next three years following a €28.5 million Government investment in healthcare education.
University College Dublin is set to play a key role in this expansion of healthcare education places.
The state funding will help to create 1,100 national third-level places every year for three years in medicine, nursing, veterinary medicine and other healthcare disciplines, ultimately increasing national healthcare training places by 27% over the next three years.
“These new places will help secure the long-term resilience of our health workforce and significantly reduce our reliance on students travelling abroad to train,” said the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science of Ireland, James Lawless TD who announced the funding.
"Importantly, half of these places will be available through alternative pathways beyond the traditional CAO, widening access and supporting a more diverse student body."
The new places will be distributed across higher education institutions, including University College Dublin, University of Galway, University College Cork and Atlantic Technological University.
"[This] announcement marks one of the largest expansions of healthcare training capacity the State has ever undertaken,” said the Minister.
"These new places will help secure the long-term resilience of our health workforce and significantly reduce our reliance on students travelling abroad to train.
"Importantly, half of these places will be available through alternative pathways beyond the traditional CAO, widening access and supporting a more diverse student body.”
Adding that this expanded capacity will strengthen Ireland’s future health and social care workforce by addressing skills shortages, reduce reliance on overseas training, and ensure the health system can meet growing demand.
The new places will be introduced from September 2026, meaning students applying through the CAO this year will be among the first to benefit.
The expansion builds on a wider Government commitment to increase healthcare training capacity, including the near completion of an additional 200 medicine places nationally first announced in 2022.
By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
