I want to highlight some difficulties that Irish healthcare students face in accessing clinical placements. A constituent of mine is studying physiotherapy in the Netherlands and needs to complete specific clinical practical placements in hospitals to register with CORU to practice as a physiotherapist in Ireland. She has been trying to line up a placement since February of last year but to no avail. Tallaght hospital has told me it has received 34 placement requests since January 2025 and so far it has only been able to accommodate five of these. In fairness, this is in addition to the placements it gives as a training hospital to Trinity College Dublin. At a time when we are trying to encourage people to join our health service it seems there is a lack of capacity in the training hospital system to cater for demand. What will the Government do to improve capacity to provide clinical practice for healthcare students who are either studying outside the State or at private colleges here that do not have official links?

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