The number of pharmacists is set to rise dramatically with the Minister for Education authorising University College Cork to open a new pharmacy school. The school will be in competition with the State's current sole provider, Trinity College Dublin.
The Minister, Dr Woods, has also indicated in a Dβil reply that the number of doctors graduating from third level may rise shortly.
He said a quota on the number of medical places was being reviewed by the National Task Force on Medical Manpower.
The quota has been in place since 1980-81 and many people have called for it to be changed. Dr Woods was responding to a question about Britain's recent decision to open two new medical colleges. He said there would be 50 places at UCC's new school, compared to the 70 available at Trinity.
The competition to host the new school was fierce among third-level institutions, with the biggest losers being the Royal College of Surgeons, which has sought a pharmacy school for many years.
Dr Woods said additional pharmacy places would also be created in Dublin, although at which college was not disclosed.
The move to produce more pharmacists has run into major opposition from the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, which has warned of making a rash decision.
It claims that in previous decades everybody in the area suffered because of an over-supply of pharmacists.
Dr Woods said the new places were needed to deal with serious shortages of pharmacists in hospitals, pharmacies and the pharmaceutical industry.
He said the new school would "facilitate a regional balance in the national provision of pharmacy education".
The announcement is subject to agreement on finances for the school and professional recognition from the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland.