It will be possible to deliver extra veterinary capacity for Irish students looking to study veterinary medicine from this September, Taoiseach Simon Harris said last Friday.

While there are three universities in the running to provide additional places for students, a decision has still not been made as to where these places will go.

Currently, South East Technological University (SETU), Waterford, in conjunction with Kildalton, University of Limerick, Atlantic Technological University (ATU) and University College Dublin (UCD) are the three finalists.

“I do want to see more than just extra capacity. I passionately believe that it is not right that the only veterinary school in Ireland is in Dublin. Across regional and rural Ireland, there is a real need for a regional balance to this. We’re educating so many of our vets now in other parts of the European Union, we want to educate our vets here – in Ireland,” he said.