Question from Deputy David Cullinane - PQ 19974-26

To ask the Minister for Health whether the Health Service Executive, or any public hospital within the State, has funded or paid tuition fees for students enrolled on a graduate programme in clinical measurement physiology at a university (University College Cork); if so, the number of students whose tuition fees have been funded by the HSE or individual public hospitals; the hospitals involved; the total value of such funding; whether any such students were offered or guaranteed employment within the Health Service Executive or a public hospital following completion of the programme; whether any agreements, arrangements or understandings, whether formal or informal, exist between the HSE, public hospitals and the University in relation to the funding of student places or the recruitment of graduates; whether any similar funding arrangements or employment guarantees have been put in place with any other university in the State offering a programme in clinical measurement physiology; and if she will make a statement on the matter.