An additional 1,250 places are being established in higher and further education.
340 of them will be created in high-demand courses like medicine, pharmacy and education, so more students get their first choice.
Minister for Higher and Further Education Simon Harris says Covid-19 is pushing up the demand:
"So there are options that are usually available to students that are not available or as readily available as they would be because this pandemic continues to wreak havoc.
"As a result of that higher and further education can be a refuge from all of that and a real option for people. It means that the demand increases and that is a good thing."
The new places are in addition to the 1,415 additional places in key skills areas under pillar two of the human capital initiative which will come on stream this year.
Speaking at a briefing earlier today, Mr Harris said these new places were important for courses that are in demand:
"I am delighted to have the support of my cabinet colleagues to provide an additional 1,250 places in our universities and institutes of technology, in a diverse range of high-demand courses as part of a package of measures to support those applying to college in 2020.
“Providing more places on high-demand courses gives us scope to ease anxiety, reduce uncertainty and demonstrate the ability of the education system to respond to student concerns.
“The extra places are focused on high-demand programmes that traditionally attract students across a range of CAO points levels, and this will a have a cascade effect, creating greater capacity in lower demand courses.
In a statement released this evening, Taoiseach Micheál Martin also welcomed the news saying:
"Today's announcement will bring the number of additional higher education places to 2.600."
"We want to do everything we can to make sure that despite the extraordinary circumstances, the class of 2020 has every chance to reach their full potential."
