The appointment of an expert advisory panel to review opportunities for new veterinary medicine programmes has been hailed as “a positive step” by one senator.
Tim Lombard welcomed the announcement this week from Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris that the panel had been appointed for reviewing opportunities for new programmes in veterinary medicine.
The panel has also been tasked with identifying capacity for new educational programmes in dentistry, pharmacy, medicine and nursing.
The panel will assess applications from higher education institutions that are seeking to offer courses in these areas, including veterinary medicine.
The panel will then make recommendations to Minister Harris in March.
Currently, the country’s only veterinary course is in University College Dublin (UCD).
Senator Lombard, who has been calling for a second veterinary school, commented: “Today is a positive step in the process of what will hopefully result in a new school of veterinary medicine and an increase in places available to students wanting to become vets.
“We know the interest is there based on the numbers who apply through CAO [Central Applications Office] every year.
“The current situation, where there are only about 80 places available to study veterinary medicine in UCD every year, has resulted in many Irish students going abroad to study,” Lombard added.
According to the senator, it will be “hugely beneficial for all of us working in agriculture to have more capacity and ultimately more vets on the ground”.
This, Lombard, said, is particularly important as more vets are needed in Ireland, particularly in rural areas and working in large animal practice.
The Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) is one of the groups that will feed into the expert advisory panel. Its CEO and registrar Niamh Muldoon is one of the members of the panel, as is Dr. Martin Blake, chief veterinary officer at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
The panel will be chaired by the CEO of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), Dr. Alan Wall.
The VCI will contribute to the assessment of viable education courses, and any veterinary programmes deemed viable by the HEA will then be subject to VCI accreditation processes.