65% of vets registered to practice in Ireland qualified here, according to the University College Dublin (UCD) School of Veterinary Medicine.
There are currently 3,330 vets on the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) register; 2,162 qualified in Ireland, while 1,126 gained their qualification outside of the country.
Last year, 302 new veterinary practitioners joined the register. 80 of those graduated from UCD, currently the only school of veterinary medicine on the island of Ireland, and 222 qualified outside of Ireland.
Of those who qualified outside of Ireland, 66 (22%) were Irish and 156 (52%) were international registrants not educated in Ireland.
Data shows that not all of the vets who recently joined the VCI register are new graduates, with many coming to work in Ireland or returning to the country later in their career.
Vets
The UCD School of Veterinary Medicine currently has over 660 veterinary medicine students and more than 150 veterinary nursing students registered across its three undergraduate programmes.
In September 2022, over 190 students began their studies in the school and the programmes generally produce a similar number of graduates on an annual basis.
UCD said that it has “fully engaged” with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to respond to a national skills shortage in the veterinary profession.
The HEA recently concluded its review of applications from third-level institutions offering to expand or create new courses in veterinary medicine in Ireland.
The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris is currently considering the authority’s recommendations.
The options available include expanding the current course at UCD, creating a new facility, or doing both.
The University of Limerick (UL); Munster Technological University (MTU); Atlantic Technological University (ATU); and South East Technological University (SETU) have also submitted applications.
New programme proposals were reviewed by an expert advisory panel, including representatives from the VCI and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).