Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I appreciate it. We have a centre of excellence in UCD and there will always be a concern in this regard. If parents have a child who wants to become a vet, they will want their little Johnny to go to UCD, no matter if we have a new institution. There will always be an element of this attitude. The MRCVS is coming at this issue from the best interests of its members' profession and they want to get vets into the community, but we have a centre of excellence at UCD. Does the group not see a problem where it is going to be hard to recruit academic staff to the level and standard we will require for this new institution at another location to be comparable with UCD? I ask this given that most people will tell us that in any industry the biggest thing required to attract people to a location is lifestyle. Do the witnesses not envisage a problem with the academic profile in respect of the expertise needed at a start-up location?