As someone involved in vet practice for 40 years in Donegal and who struggled with the impossible task of recruiting cattle vets to work there over my last decade in practice, we urgently need new vet schools to train local students.
The shortage of cattle vets is now an animal welfare issue threatening the ability of suckler farmers to achieve minimum welfare standards in their animal husbandry.
I know of only four of the excellent hundreds of girls and boys who saw practice in Donegal Animal hospital from 27 post-primary schools in Donegal who achieved the points for University College Dublin (UCD) vet school.
Expecting a student attending a remote small secondary school like those on Tory or Arranmore Islands to compete with a student at a fee-paying grind school in Dublin is inequitable.
Encouraging more cattle vets
The admission system for the new vet schools must reserve half their places for agricultural course graduates who achieve a minimum number of Leaving Cert points e.g., say 500.
University of Limerick (UL) has great merit and I support its application to operate a new vet school, but for regional balance it will be a travesty if Atlantic Technological University (ATU) is not also selected.
It would be epidemiological madness to have all the vet schools on the island located south of or on the Liffey-Shannon line.
Animal disease respects no political borders and funding for a vet school at ATU would reflect a genuine commitment from the all-island unit which last year gave over €50 million to Magee University in Derry which takes in a high cohort of Donegal students.
Successive reports on higher education funding continually highlight a marked discrimination against the west and north-west in favour of the ‘Pale’ (Dublin and its surrounds).
Let’s hear support for the ATU bid from politicians and agri-business.
Le meas,
Ger Groarty (retired veterinary practitioner), Co. Donegal.