New pharmacist numbers fall 27% as demand set to surge

Pádraig O’Sullivan said the number of newly registered pharmacists is not going to meet demand.

The number of new pharmacist registrations is decreasing year on year — and has fallen by 27% in the last five years.

This is despite a Department of Health workforce planning report suggesting that the demand for pharmacists will increase by 28% between 2023 and 2040.

New figures provided to Pádraig O’Sullivan, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork North Central, showed that the number of new pharmacy graduates registering with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) has been falling.

Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill confirmed that, as of December 5, there were 388 first-time registrants with the PSI in 2025.

This was down from 421 in 2024, an 8% drop, and well below the 529 new graduates who registered in 2023.

In 2022, there were 357 newly registered pharmacists, down from 530 in 2021.

Overall, the number of new registrants fell by 27% between 2021 and 2025.

Of the 2,225 new pharmacists in this time, one third (745) were national graduate students.

In response to Mr O’Sullivan, Ms Carroll MacNeill said it was “anticipated that there will be a growing demand for pharmacists in the years ahead due to a rising and ageing population”.

“Following on from analysis and research carried out by my department, it is expected that the demand for pharmacists will increase by 28% between the years 2023 and 2040,” she said.

Mr O’Sullivan told the Irish Examiner that the number of newly registered pharmacists is not going to meet demand.

“By the department’s own admission, the demand on pharmacists will increase by 28% from now to 2040,” he said.

“The decline in the number of graduates by 25% from the period 2021 to 2025 can only lead us to believe that the department is not serious about meeting future demands.”

A Department of Health report titled Ireland’s Future Health and Social Care Workforce stated that the number of pharmacists registered with the PSI rose from 6,506 in 2019 to 7,731 in 2024.

The report noted that while the pharmacist workforce has increased by 19% in the five years, 25% of the overall growth was associated with public sector employment growth.

It also stated that there is a growing number of foreign-educated pharmacists in Ireland.