Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. Other groups appeared before us two weeks ago. Thankfully, this is a fait accomplito some extent and is going to happen.

I wish to ask the witnesses what they believe the best outcome would be. There was a great deal of discussion at our previous meeting about the qualifications for University College Dublin, UCD. I would like the witnesses to discuss those. We must be cognisant of the world status that UCD holds. We debated the merits of approving people with lower points but more practical qualifications – agricultural college qualifications or some other farm animal qualification – for veterinary courses. While we do not want to dilute the quality of the vets being educated at UCD and the world recognition they achieve, how can we broaden the scope of recruitment? If someone was trained at UCD, he or she is almost at the top of the pile straight away. That is not just the case in Ireland, but globally. I would hate to see that status diluted, but I would also like to see the net being cast a little wider. How can we square that circle?

We are discussing one additional school of veterinary medicine, but is there merit in having a couple of specialised schools? One could be an equine veterinary school aligned with the Irish Equine Centre, another could be for large animal specialists, etc. Could this idea be a runner? Given our world standing in the equine sphere, there is an opening for us to produce the leading equine vets in the world. I do not mean this suggestion to give the equine sector more regard than any other sector of the veterinary trade. I am just using that sector as an example, and there are many other areas where specialising could be a possibility. Along the lines of what Senator Lombard said, we could attract students from further afield than our own shores who wanted to specialise in certain areas of practice. We could be a world leader.

To be a little tongue in cheek, will Mr. Fleming send that young lad from Tullamore back up the road? We have a shortage, too.