The possible creation of a new school of pharmacy in Ireland, leading to a near-doubling in the annual number of pharmacy graduates, is one of the proposals recommended in a report commissioned by the Higher Education Authority of Ireland.
The only school of pharmacy in Ireland at present is at Trinity College Dublin. The maximum annual intake for its bachelor of science course in pharmacy was raised from 50 to 70 students in 1998. The report says that this new number is sufficient to maintain the existing labour market, but "this is an inappropriate target as there are considerable problems with the current situation". An extra 50 graduates per annum are required, the report says, and the HEA should ask suitable institutions to draw up proposals as to how this could be achieved.
The report notes that both University College Cork and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland have expressed interest in developing new degree courses in pharmacy.
The report says that the Irish pharmacy market is suffering from recruitment problems, similar to those being seen at present in the United Kingdom, with an excess demand for labour in both the community and hospital sectors.
The register of pharmaceutical chemists held by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland has increased in number from 2,114 in 1988 to an estimated 2,700 at present. However, the report says that the register is "not an accurate reflection of the numbers of pharmacists actually working in Ireland" due to an increasing number of pharmacists, principally graduates of UK universities, who are registering but are neither resident nor working in the Republic.
Assessing supply in relation to prospective demand for pharmacists in Ireland: report to the Higher Education Authority, Government Publication Sales Office, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2, (ISBN 0-904556-57-3), price IR£10.