Mr. Ian Fleming:

Regarding cost, there is no cheap fix in veterinary education. Veterinary education is the second most expensive education system for professionals in the world. It is not an Irish thing; this is across the world. We follow dentists as being the most expensive course because there is such a hands-on element to it and the accreditation requires all those hands-on parts. It is very complicated. It is not simple. From what Matt Jones told us, we know the ball park figure for veterinary courses across the UK and into Ireland is between €20,000 and €30,000 per student per annum so it is a major cost.

We know there were a couple of start ups in the UK, one of which was in Lancashire and it was supposed to manage on a small budget but before it ever got into it, and it is only into it now, it had to increase the demand. We need to be very aware of the costing and what the right cohort and volume are. Where is the sweet place in terms of numbers of students? The sweet point is between 100 and 150 students. With this, you get the maximum return out of what are very specialised and very expensive educators within the system. There is no cheap fix here.