Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Ensuring a supply of qualified vets to meet the demands of Ireland's agri-food and healthcare sector is an important issue for my Department.

As you will be aware, a number of institutions put forward proposals following the recent HEA Expression of Interest process outlining options for the development of new programmes, as well as expansion of existing veterinary medicine programmes.

There is a substantial capital cost associated with the provision of any new school of veterinary medicine. It is important that the scale of the costs is fully understood and planned for and the options identified have the potential to transform the numbers of students who can take up places in these key areas. This would be an expansion at a scale rarely seen and would represent a significant investment of public funding in our HEIs.

Detailed discussions continue to take place about the ways and means to address capital costs for the provision of any new school, including in the context of an expected upcoming review of Departmental National Development Plan allocations.

Given the nature of the discussions and the significant costs associated with expansion and the provision of any new schools, it will naturally take some time for these discussions to reach a conclusion. and it is not possible at this time to determine where any new school will be located.

I am continuing to work with the Ministers for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Health and the Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform on the next steps.