Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
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85. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps his Department is taking to ensure that there is a sufficient increase in capacity in veterinary schools in Ireland to meet the growing demand for vets and reduce reliance on education abroad; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25295/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Ensuring a supply of qualified vets to meet the demands of Ireland's agri-food sector is an important issue for my Department.

Workforce planning requirements for the veterinary medicine sector are a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in consultation with the Veterinary Council of Ireland. Officials in my Department have been engaging closely with colleagues in Minister Mc. Conalogue's Department in relation to these graduate supply requirements.

While my Department does not place a quota on the number of places on veterinary medicine courses, the reality is that there are constraints in current capacity. This reflects the fact that programmes involve significant practical and placement requirements, and facilities, including appropriate laboratory facilities, to ensure programmes meet the necessary standards of the Veterinary Council of Ireland.

In recognition of this capacity constraint, the Higher Education Authority recently ran a process to identify where capacity could be built in the higher education sector in a number of priority disciplines including veterinary medicine.

A number of institutions put forward proposals , including for the expansion of the existing veterinary medicine programme but also for the development of entirely new programmes. The HEA has advised that a number of proposals for additional veterinary places are worthy of further consideration and examination. The requirements identified to bring these proposals on stream are significant, including the development of major new capital projects and the provision of ongoing revenue support.

As I intend updating Government on this process in due course, it is not possible to say at this stage how many further places may be delivered. I expect that following Government consideration, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and I will devise a process to further examine the opportunities, identified by the HEA, for new programme provision alongside options for current programme expansion, in order to ensure that the plans identified and associated costs are robust and meet priority needs.