Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to pass on my sympathies to the family in Cork of Bishop David O'Connell who was brutally murdered in Los Angeles. This is a shocking crime and I hope that the perpetrator is brought to justice as quickly as possible.

I want to raise the need for a veterinary college in the mid-west. The University of Limerick is very keen to press ahead with plans to establish a veterinary college. This would be an excellent initiative. In my work with the expert group as part of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, I travelled to Poland last October from Shannon. I met 60 young people who were travelling to Poland to study veterinary science. There is no reason in the wide earthly world why these young people cannot study veterinary science here in Ireland. We have a college in the mid-west in an area that has a growing population. The university is thriving and has students placed in industry, commerce and various other disciplines throughout the world. UL is prepared to open a veterinary college in the mid-west. This would offer an opportunity for students from Munster and the west coast to be able to study veterinary science outside Dublin.Of course UCD wants to extend and upgrade its veterinary college but if the Government is investing money, the fair thing to do would be to invest it in the mid-west, establish a new veterinary college and provide people with choice. Somebody studying veterinary medicine should not have to go to Dublin to avail of the course. We need choice and we need to support the University of Limerick in its ambitious plans to open a veterinary college in the university.