Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The important thing to point out is that the awarding of the two veterinary colleges, which has been long talked about, was made as a result of a recommendation of the Higher Education Authority. The Department has resourced and funded to allow the Higher Education Authority, HEA, to make that by virtue of the amount of money we give it. It goes to a number of different elements of the programme for Government, including rural regeneration. Historically, someone who wanted to become a vet had to go to Dublin or abroad. We have changed that now on the basis of the Higher Education Authority's recommendation. Submissions were reviewed by an independent panel, which included the chief veterinary officer.

The first students will go into the courses in the next academic year. There are 80 places between the two universities. The students will not, obviously, all start together, but they will have all commenced in both universities throughout the academic years 2025-26 and 2026-27. As they go from first year onwards, the number of students in those universities will grow. The faculties will bed down and the expansion will be there. I know it is important for Kildalton and Mountbellew. I will use this opportunity to say that just because we have announced two veterinary colleges, it does not mean we are closing the door on other veterinary colleges in Ireland in the future. I want to make that clear. I know some universities might be disappointed and might have said they were not ready or decided not to go for it this time. To be clear, we are not closing the door on a future expansion of veterinary education in Ireland. That will be for another Minister and the next Government to decide, but I believe there is value in expanding that further.

The Cathaoirleach mentioned the traditionally sought-after courses that have very high points. We have already made significant inroads into the therapy courses, namely, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. We have done that. I have a memorandum to Government with regard to that. We work collaboratively with the universities in Northern Ireland. Many students from Ireland go North or to Britain. That has been historic. Depending on what part of the country a student is from, it has been a tradition. In the coming weeks, I believe we will make announcements about future education with regard to the healthcare disciplines that will be transformational and not only in terms of providing new places. I am not certain the points are going to come down, because the more places are provided, the more interest is accrued, and all of sudden people who did not put it as a number one choice before would do so. I do not necessarily see the points coming down dramatically, but we will see a lot more graduates coming out. They will come from universities that never had these particular disciplines before. That will be a great thing.