There is a “real opportunity” for the training of veterinary farm technicians in Ireland, Senator Victor Boyhan has told the Seanad today (Wednesday, January 31).
Senator Boyhan renewed his call for the establishment of modular training, both practical and theory, in order to establish a cohort of veterinary technicians.
He asked the Cathaoirleach to arrange for Minister for Further and Higher Education, Simon Harris to come to the Seanad and provide an update on his plans for a new veterinary faculty.
Senator Boyhan said that many people who don’t meet the required Central Applications Office (CAO) points would like to pursue “as a sort of new improved syllabus”, and added:
“There is a real opportunity for farm technicians. We don’t need veterinary surgeons doing everything.”
The lack of third-level places for veterinary medicine forces many Irish students to study abroad – “not by choice but they are keen to become veterinary surgeons”, he said.
The “demand for the 85 undergraduate places” at University College Dublin (UCD) is “far outstripping supply”, with 581 applications in 2022, according to the senator.
Veterinary training
There are proposals to develop a vet school for Limerick, Kildalton and South East Technological University, and Mountbellew and Letterkenny, Minister Harris said.
UCD also proposed an expansion of its school, Minister Harris said during a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills last week.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue and Minister Harris hope to have clarity about their capital allocations this quarter.
Once clarity has been reached, Minister Harris said, they will ask the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to take the next steps in establishing new programmes.
“We see far too many students having to go abroad to eastern Europe to get their education. Nearly all of them return and join the register here.
“The majority of people joining the veterinary register now are being educated abroad. That is not a good or sustainable position to be in,” Minister Harris told the committee.
A group of veterinary practitioners recently raised concerns as the government is yet to announce which third-level institution will receive funding to host a new vet school.