Mr. Ian Fleming:

I thank the Senator for his questions. On the question regarding the shared island, it is hugely important because diseases do not know anything about borders. Plenty of practices in the northern counties in the Republic operate in the North of Ireland andvice versa. It is an open market situation in that regard. A farmer can choose a vet from whichever side of the Border he wants. It is important that this new school be accredited through the VCI and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the system that operates north of the Border. We hope the new college will achieve the standards currently seen in UCD in the veterinary college. We are not here in any way to talk down UCD. It is accredited to the highest level in the world. It is accredited with the United States and Australasia. It has massive accreditation. It is squeaky-clean and above reproach in that regard. There is an issue about rural practice and where those students are from and where they will go, which we touched on. The new school may be in a position to deal with those issues. The Senator is correct that a revolution is happening in veterinary education, of which UCD is a part. It is already down that road. We need another school because, as a new beginner, it is easier to set up a system than adapt a system. That is what we see in that regard.

The shared island is important. We are aware it is part of Government policy that there is huge attention to that aspect. There is a bilateral agreement going back to the foundation of the State in which if there were education facilitates on one side of the Border and not on the other, there was a reciprocal arrangement. UCD has over the years taken a certain cohort of Northern students but it is difficult for them to get in. It is easier for them to get into UK schools so they tend to go across the water rather than coming down South. We know that the University of Limerick has been in talks; there is a lot of networking going on across that Border. They would approve greatly in the North of this new school. It would be a wonderful thing. It would set aside a cohort of places for Northern students for that purpose. We see that as the right answer to that question. I will pass to Mr. Quinn to talk about the teaching model, as he is the expert on that.