Key Takeaways
- A Historic Expansion: Backed by massive government investments from the National Training Fund, the Department of Further and Higher Education (DFHERIS) is creating over 1,100 new national third-level healthcare places annually.
- New Medical Schools: 2026 will see the launch of a highly anticipated Direct Entry Medicine program at the University of Limerick (UL) and a unique Rural and Remote Graduate Entry Medicine stream at the University of Galway.
- The Pharmacy Monopoly Ends: Pharmacy education will no longer be confined to Dublin and Cork. Atlantic Technological University (ATU), South East Technological University (SETU), and the University of Galway are launching brand-new Pharmacy programs.
- New Dental Surgery Route: The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is launching a new Bachelor of Dental Surgery utilizing a community-based education model.
- Alternative Pathways Prioritized: Crucially, government ministers have confirmed that up to half of these new healthcare places will be delivered through alternative pathways outside the traditional CAO points race, widening access for diverse student demographics.
For decades, securing a place in a clinical healthcare or social care degree in Ireland has been synonymous with an exhausting, anxiety-inducing CAO points race. Due to a severe national cap on clinical training facilities and university funding, essential courses like Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, and Occupational Therapy routinely demanded near-perfect Leaving Certificate scores. This artificial bottleneck forced thousands of capable, passionate Irish students to travel abroad to the UK or Eastern Europe to train, exacerbating chronic workforce shortages within the Health Service Executive (HSE).
However, the landscape for 2026 CAO applicants has fundamentally shifted. In response to a rapidly growing and aging population, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) has initiated the most significant expansion of healthcare education in the history of the State.
Backed by multi-million-euro government investments—including major funding unlocked from the National Training Fund—Ireland is radically restructuring how and where clinical professionals are trained. The strategy moves away from centralizing all medical education in Dublin, opting instead to empower regional Technological Universities and establish entirely new clinical programs.
In this comprehensive 2026 guide, we will break down exactly where these new priority health and social care places are opening, what new degrees you can apply for on the CAO, and how this historic expansion will impact the points race.
1. The Medical Expansion: Breaking the 700-Point Bottleneck
Medicine has always been the ultimate CAO battleground, requiring students to ace both the Leaving Certificate and the HPAT-Ireland exam. To alleviate this pressure and secure the long-term resilience of the Irish healthcare system, the government has mandated a massive increase in medical school capacity.
Over 200 additional EU undergraduate medicine places have been phased into the system leading up to 2026. More importantly, new schools are opening their doors.
University of Limerick (UL): Direct Entry Medicine
Building on its long-standing expertise as a provider of Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM), the University of Limerick is launching a highly anticipated Direct Entry Medicine programme.Expected to commence student intake in September 2026, this program will introduce an initial 30 new places specifically for school-leavers. This represents a monumental expansion of undergraduate medicine capacity outside the traditional institutional monopoly, providing students in the Mid-West with a world-class, local pathway to becoming a doctor.
University of Galway: Rural and Remote Medicine Stream
In a targeted effort to address the severe shortage of General Practitioners (GPs) in rural Ireland, the University of Galway is introducing a Rural and Remote Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) Stream.At full roll-out, this specialized four-year accelerated program will provide 48 additional places per year.The curriculum is specifically designed to prepare medical professionals for the unique challenges of rural clinical practice, ensuring that communities in the West and beyond receive equitable healthcare access.
Queen’s University Belfast (QUB): Cross-Border Collaboration
To boost graduate supply in the short term, the Irish government has engaged in a cross-border collaboration, co-funding 50 direct entry medicine places for students at Queen’s University Belfast.Students availing of these specific funded places commit to applying for an HSE internship upon graduation, actively supporting the long-term supply of doctors to the Irish public health system while experiencing world-class education in Northern Ireland.
2. The Pharmacy & Dentistry Revolution
Historically, if you wanted to study Pharmacy or Dentistry in Ireland, your geographic options were severely limited. This centralization drove CAO points for these disciplines to astronomical heights. The 2026 expansion completely shatters this geographical constraint.
Doubling Pharmacy Training Programs
In a massive win for regional education, the number of pharmacy training programs in Ireland is set to double. New pharmacy degrees are being launched at:
- Atlantic Technological University (ATU)
- South East Technological University (SETU)
- University of Galway
At full roll-out, these three new programs will introduce more than 150 additional pharmacy graduates into the Irish workforce every year. By embedding these programs in regional Technological Universities (TUs), students in the North-West and South-East will no longer have to relocate to Dublin or Cork to pursue pharmacology, drastically reducing their student living costs.
RCSI: A New Bachelor of Dental Surgery
Dental education is also receiving a massive upgrade. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has received state support to launch a brand-new Bachelor of Dental Surgery.This program will provide 20 new dentistry places annually for Irish and EEA students.Crucially, the degree utilizes an innovative “community-based model” of dental education, designed to immediately expand access to dental services for local populations while students complete their clinical training.
3. Expanding Allied Health, Therapy, and Social Care
While doctors and pharmacists often dominate the headlines, the HSE is facing acute shortages in allied health and social care professions. Waiting lists for children requiring speech therapy or occupational therapy currently span years.
To combat this, the Department has directed significant funding toward expanding existing programs and developing new provision in priority therapy disciplines.
Speech & Language and Occupational Therapy
Recent state interventions have already created hundreds of new places across therapy disciplines, specifically targeting Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy.Because these are strictly regulated professions under CORU, these new university places require substantial, high-quality clinical practice placements. The government is working closely with the HSE to ensure that local hospitals and primary care centers have the capacity to mentor this incoming wave of therapy students.
Psychology and Social Inclusion
The demand for qualified psychologists in educational and clinical settings is vast. DFHERIS continues active engagement with the Department of Health to aggressively expand the pipeline of child and educational psychologists.
Simultaneously, universities are launching specialized postgraduate programs to address the evolving nature of social care. For example, Dublin City University (DCU) has launched a pioneering MSc in Health and Social Inclusion.Designed for current health and social care workers, this two-year blended program tackles healthcare inequity and social exclusion, training leaders to protect marginalized communities facing poverty, addiction, and illness.
4. Alternative Pathways: Bypassing the CAO Points Race
Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of this €28.5 million healthcare education expansion is how students will access these new places.
The government has explicitly acknowledged that the traditional Leaving Certificate points system is a flawed metric for identifying the best future nurses, therapists, and doctors. Minister for Further and Higher Education, James Lawless TD, confirmed that “half of these places will be available through alternative pathways beyond the traditional CAO, widening access and supporting a more diverse student body”.
What does this mean for 2026 applicants?
- More QQI / PLC Quotas: Universities will reserve a significantly larger percentage of Year 1 healthcare places for students presenting QQI Level 5 (Post Leaving Certificate) awards, allowing late-bloomers to bypass the points race entirely.
- Tertiary Degrees (NTO): The expansion relies heavily on the National Tertiary Office (NTO) model, where students begin their clinical degrees at a local Further Education college (ETB) and seamlessly transition to a Technological University without ever needing CAO points.
- Expanded HEAR and DARE Access: A wider safety net will be cast for students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds or those managing disabilities, ensuring that the future healthcare workforce accurately reflects the diversity of the Irish population.
Summary
The 2026 expansion of health and social care university places represents a generational shift in Irish education. By creating over 1,100 new national places annually, launching new Direct Entry Medicine programs at UL, and expanding Pharmacy degrees into regional hubs like ATU and SETU, the state is finally addressing the crippling CAO points bottlenecks. This decentralization not only secures the long-term resilience of the HSE but also ensures that passionate students can train in their home regions without incurring massive relocation debts. For a deeper look into how these new regional healthcare programs are shaking up the points system, check out our recent breakdown on the ATU Donegal Veterinary Medicine Entry Requirements and Points, which highlights the innovative 865-point admissions model designed for these new priority disciplines.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
When will the new UL Direct Entry Medicine program appear on the CAO?
The University of Limerick’s new Direct Entry Medicine program is scheduled to commence student intake in September 2026, subject to final clinical accreditation. It is expected to appear in the CAO handbook for the 2026 application cycle, alongside the standard HPAT entry requirements.
Will the new Pharmacy places lower the CAO points?
Yes, historically, a massive injection of supply directly lowers the CAO points cutoff. By adding 150 new pharmacy places across ATU, SETU, and University of Galway, the intense competition that previously kept Pharmacy points hovering around the 600-mark should stabilize, making the profession far more accessible.
Are the new healthcare places open to Non-EU international students?
The primary focus of this government investment is to address domestic HSE workforce shortages, meaning the vast majority of these newly created undergraduate places are ring-fenced specifically for Irish and EU/EEA students. However, universities will continue to offer a separate, limited quota of full-fee places for Non-EU applicants.
What is a community-based model of dental education?
The new RCSI Bachelor of Dental Surgery will utilize a community-based model. Instead of confining students purely to a centralized dental hospital, students will spend significant portions of their clinical training working in local community clinics and primary care centers, providing direct dental services to the public under professional supervision.
Does this expansion apply to Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM)?
Yes. Alongside the new undergraduate pathways, the expansion includes the new Rural and Remote GEM stream at the University of Galway.Furthermore, the Department of Further and Higher Education continues to part-subsidize GEM tuition fees for eligible EU students, providing over €13 million annually to ease the financial burden on graduate medical students.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for educational planning and strategic guidance purposes only. The rollout of new university programs, CAO point cutoffs, and specific alternative access quotas are subject to final accreditation by regulatory bodies (such as the Medical Council and CORU) and annual government budget allocations. Always consult the official CAO Handbook (www.cao.ie) and the prospectuses of the respective universities for the most current, legally binding admissions directives.
James Gobir is the publisher and lead strategist behind CAOPoint.com, a premier educational resource dedicated to demystifying the Irish university application process. With years of experience analyzing the Central Applications Office (CAO) algorithm, James empowers students, parents, and career-changers to navigate the Irish higher education system with data-driven confidence.