Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----to remind me of the importance of Letterkenny and Mountbellew’s bid. We have one veterinary school in Ireland. It is a good one, but we need more than one. We see far too many students having to go abroad to eastern Europe to get their education. Nearly all of them return and join the register here. The majority of people joining the veterinary register now are being educated abroad. That is not a good or sustainable position to be in. The Minister for agriculture, Deputy McConalogue, and his Department recognise the need to train more vets and, from an education perspective, I recognise the need to provide those pathways at home. We now have three finalists, if I can call them that, with the potential to develop new schools. There is a proposal for Limerick, a proposal for Kildalton and South East Technological University and a proposal for Mountbellew and Letterkenny. UCD has also proposed an expansion of its school. When the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and I have clarity about our capital allocations, which I hope will be this quarter, we will ask the HEA to take the next steps.