Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

This has been widely discussed and evaluated and I agreed with the extension of the numbers on the Veterinary Council.

There are two considerations on the issue of education. First, the Department of Education and Science has provided a considerable amount of grant aid to the Veterinary Council. Second, while we only have one veterinary college at present, there is nothing to suggest we will not have another college in the future, which would be entitled to make a recommendation. To restrict the entitlement to one college would be inappropriate. The dean of the faculty of veterinary medicine in UCD is a member of the Veterinary Council at present.

On the issue of subsections (b) and (c), my concern is that if I indicate that the representative must be a farmer, I will have every farming organisation lobbying for a position on the council — the IFA, the ICMSA, the ICSA, ICOS. At that rate ——