A decision on Ireland’s second veterinary school will be made by Government “shortly”, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has indicated. As speculation reaches fever pitch, Minister Harris has received a report from the Higher Education Authority which includes a ranking score for each application.
A decision on Ireland’s second veterinary school will be made by Government “shortly”, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has indicated.
As speculation reaches fever pitch, Minister Harris has received a report from the Higher Education Authority which includes a ranking score for each application.
The runners and riders include an application from UCD to add more places to its existing veterinary school, which has around 80 places per year, and bids from the University of Limerick (UL); Munster Technological University (MTU); Atlantic Technological University (ATU); and South East Technological University (SETU) to set up new courses.
Minister Harris has been engaging with his Government colleagues and “the findings will be brought to Government for decision shortly”, his spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal this week.
Claims
Last Friday, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue rejected claims that the new veterinary college will be awarded to SETU.
The Mayor of Kilkenny, Fine Gael councillor David Fitzgerald, told KCLR FM that while the formal announcement would not be made for a number of weeks, SETU, along with its Kildalton College farm campus, would be the site of the proposed veterinary school.
However, a spokesperson for Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, who is involved in the process, denied the claim, saying “no decision has been made” and insisting that the decision would only be made following a Government decision.
As the Irish Farmers Journal went to press, the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine was set to discuss the proposal for the new veterinary school.
Its chair, Jackie Cahill, said there is growing demand for veterinary services in Ireland, particularly from the farming sector, and he looked forward to discussing the matter with the Veterinary Council, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and officials from Minister Harris and Minister McConalogue’s departments.
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