Healthcare education projects to benefit from €75m capital investment
New buildings and refurbishments approved across Galway, Waterford and Sligo under Project Ireland 2040
25 February 2026 | editor@breakingground.news
A €75 million capital programme has been announced to expand healthcare education infrastructure across Ireland, with a series of new build and refurbishment projects set to progress under Project Ireland 2040.
The Healthcare Education Activation Programme (HEAP), unveiled by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, will fund construction and upgrade works at higher education institutions to support new healthcare courses and increase student capacity in existing programmes.
The programme is funded through the National Training Fund as part of the National Development Plan and is intended to address workforce shortages in key healthcare disciplines.
Among the projects securing approval in principle are two developments at the University of Galway. These include a new four-storey medical school integrated with the existing Block E building via a glazed atrium link, and the launch of a Pharmacy Programme. A proposed Rural and Remote Graduate Entry Medicine Stream at the university will, at full roll-out, provide 48 additional medicine places annually to support GP provision in rural areas.
At South East Technological University (SETU), a new combined Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy building is planned for the Glassworks Campus at the former Waterford Crystal site. The facility will include undergraduate teaching spaces, laboratories, staff accommodation, flexible social and innovation space, as well as ancillary and plant areas. The building will be one of the first developments on the campus.
Approval in principle has also been granted for the repurposing of existing space at Atlantic Technological University’s Sligo campus to support its Pharmacy Programme.
An initial activation phase under the programme has already supported the launch of a new Bachelor of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. When fully established, it will provide up to 35 additional dentistry places each year.
Separately, €6.6 million is being invested to create 461 additional training places across nine Health and Social Care Professions, spanning physiotherapy, dietetics, radiation therapy, radiography, podiatry, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, social work and social care. These programmes are delivered across nine higher education institutions.
Work is also under way on a preliminary business case for a Direct Entry Medicine programme at the University of Limerick.
The Higher Education Authority identified the new programmes through a structured process and will oversee the capital funding allocations. The programme provides scope for further projects as additional healthcare training needs are confirmed.
For the construction sector, the announcement signals a pipeline of higher education capital works, including new academic buildings, specialist laboratory facilities, refurbishment projects and associated mechanical and electrical installations across multiple regional campuses.
