Stormont health authorities have welcomed an Irish government plan to fund 250 student nursing and midwifery places in Northern Ireland universities.
The one-year plan would address a shortfall in student places for the 2023/24 academic year resulting from the budgetary crisis north of the border.
Senior civil servants at Stormont, who are currently running public services in Northern Ireland in the absence of devolution, are facing a funding black hole running into hundreds of millions of pounds this year.
