Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has "no concern" about medical students "going to live on Bondi Beach" as he encouraged graduates to move abroad to gain experience.
He made the comments as he announced a number of options to expand third-level places for healthcare and veterinary medicine alongside Higher Education Minister Simon Harris and Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue.
A new report has found that an additional 208 doctors, 692 nurses, 196 pharmacists, 63 dentists and 230 vets could potentially be trained annually.
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The Irish Mirror asked Mr Donnelly if he was concerned that the Irish State would be spending money training additional medical professionals that would end up moving abroad given the current recruitment and retention crisis.
"The large majority for example of nurses who graduate in Ireland take on jobs with the HSE after graduation," he said.
"It was 1,550 last year that were all offered positions.
"We hear this narrative sometimes that the college doors open and everyone gets on a plane to Sydney. It's simply not true. The majority actually stay in Ireland. We need to make sure that as many stay as possible.
"To be honest, I'd encourage people to go abroad. Live abroad. Get a taste for life abroad. Work abroad. Get international experience.
"We actively encourage our doctors to do it. I think it's quite a healthy thing, particularly for a small island nation like ours. The key is that they come home."
He continued: "I don't have a concern with students graduating and going to live on Bondi Beach for a year or Vancouver for a year or whatever it is.
"International experience is good. International professional experience is good, particularly in healthcare. We need to make sure that they come home."
Minister Donnelly said that the Government must ensure that those training in the medical profession have a "positive experience during their education" and during their hospital placements to "make sure that they're working and being trained in an environment where they are valued and respected".
The Health Minister also said that measures are being put in place to address concerns that medical professionals have, such as safe staffing in hospitals and issues around emergency tax for non-consultant hospital doctors.
Minister Harris welcomed the fact that the Higher Education system has signalled that there is room to increase the number of medicine places from 750 to 1,158 a year. The number of nursing spaces will increase from 2,000 to over 3,000, while places for pharmacists will go from over 200 to over 400.
Agriculture Minister McConalogue also said that it is critical that the number of vets that can be trained increases.
He said that there has already been a "significant expansion" in the number of vets, which is up 26 per cent on 2017. He noted that many of these people came from overseas, with 65 per cent of new vets educated outside Ireland.
"There's a very clear demand there for additional places," he said.
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