Tipperary North TD Michael Lowry is welcoming the expansion in Health and Social Care Profession Training Places. In total 461 new places are to be delivered across nine priority disciplines.
320 additional student places will be offered this year and a further 141 in subsequent years, in disciplines critical to disability, health, and education services.
This immediate expansion will be in nine key areas: Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Radiation Therapy, Radiography, Podiatry, Social Work, Medical Science, and Dietetics.
The new places will be offered in the Technological University of the Shannon which has campuses in Thurles and Clonmel and in the Atlantic Technological University, Dublin City University, Maynooth University, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, Technological University Dublin, University College Cork, University College Dublin and the University of Limerick.
The decision follows a joint proposal led by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS), in collaboration with the Department of Health, Department of Children, Disability, Equality (DCDE), and Department of Education and Youth, supported by the Higher Education Authority(HEA) and the Health Service Executive (HSE).
