Mr. Jimmy Quinn:

To continue on shared island, I have friends in practice in the North who have the exact same problems as we do down here at the moment. It is difficult to recruit and retain people in large animal practices. There does not seem to be a likelihood of a new vet school in the North. At the moment, children in the North travel to the UK. It is a massive brain drain, as most of them do not return to practice in the North. There is a realisation in Northern Ireland that a second vet school down here could significantly increase the chances of retaining those kids on the island if they come South to be educated. It would reciprocate to some extent the large number of kids going from the South to the North to do pharmacy and medical courses, for example. It would be nice to see something in return down here. UL provided a commitment to reserving 10% of its places for Northern Irish students on any intake. We have been told that is acceptable North of the Border. The farming community is glad to hear it because, as I said, it has the same struggles as we do in recruiting and retaining people in large animal practice.

With regard to the role of veterinary technicians, the reality of large animal veterinary work is that considerable areas of it at the moment are done by trained, non-veterinary professionals anyway, for example, ultrasound scanning in cows. Most of the footwork in cattle is done by trained lay operators. There is a realisation in the profession that we cannot do everything. Certain areas of work are already being done to a significant extent in a co-operative manner with trained, non-veterinary professionals.