A new regime for medical education, which will see an increase in college places and a new two-tier entry system, will be detailed later today.
The new system will mean a doubling in the number of training places and the removal of the cap which has limited the number available to 305 for almost 30 years.
The number of places in medical training for Irish and non-EU students will increase to 725.
There will also be a new graduate entry programme alongside the existing undergraduate system.
Up to 100 of the new places could be made available at the new graduate medical school at the University of Limerick.
This package of measures is broadly in line with proposals made by both the Hanly report on the health service and an expert group on medical education, chaired by Prof Patrick Fottrell, a former president of NUI Galway.
The new proposals were endorsed by the Cabinet last week. Full details will be given by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin and Minister for Health Mary Harney later today.
Pressure for a review of medical education has been growing because of the pressure on the health service and the apparently inexorable rise in the CAO points needed to take the subject.
Many educationists believe that the high points for medicine distort the whole CAO process. In recent years some 44 per cent of those with 550 CAO points or more applied for medicine and related courses.
UCD and the College of Surgeons have already announced plans for postgraduate programmes in medicine.
The new graduate entry system will see students undergo an entry exam, aptitude testing and an interview before gaining entry.
A CAO points threshold of 450 points was proposed in the Fottrell report.
The new regime is unlikely to have any major impact on CAO points levels for medicine. Only 70 additional places are coming on stream this year.
