The Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) has welcomed the announcement of 80 new third-level veterinary medicine places to be provided by South East Technological University (SETU) and Atlantic Technological University (ATU).
The government expects that, when fully operational, the new vet schools at SETU in Kilkenny an ATU in Donegal and Galway will produce 80 new graduates per year, with the first tranche of students beginning their studies next autumn.
Although the Higher Education Authority (HEA) last year also identified capacity for additional vet medicine places at University College Dublin (UCD), there is no proposal to change UCD’s current annual intake of 90 students.
CEO and registrar of the VCI, which is the statutory body responsible for the regulation, management and the education of the practice of veterinary medicine and veterinary nursing in the state, Niamh Muldoon said:
“The additional graduates are greatly needed in the sector, which has seen an increased demand not only for veterinary practitioners, but also for critical agri-food research and development roles.
“As the regulator for the sector, the council will be pleased to apply our accreditation assessment and standards to any new applicant programmes of veterinary medicine.
“This will be done to ensure the high standards of veterinary medicine enjoyed in Ireland are maintained, in the interest of animal health and welfare, public health, and Ireland’s agri-food sector.”
Any new veterinary medicine courses will be subject to VCI accreditation, which enables professional recognition in Ireland which then further affords access to registration in the UK, Europe and Australia and New Zealand, the VCI said.
Vet schools
SETU proposes a distributed model of clinical teaching, where students will complete their clinical rotations in private practices, in collaboration with its partner site located at Teagasc Kildalton Agricultural College, Co. Kilkenny.
Welcoming the government’s decision, SETU president, Prof. Veronica Campbell said vet medicine is a “highly sought-after” programme of relevance to the south-east that “will attract top talent from the south-east and beyond”.
SETU is “actively working” towards accreditation from the VCI with inclusion of the new programme in the Central Applications Office (CAO) listing in 2025/26 to provide for an annual intake of 40 students, Prof. Campbell added.
Welcoming the announcement of a new vet school at SETU, Tirlán CEO Seán Molloy said “the choice to allocate a veterinary medicine school in the south-east is positive news for Tirlán and our farm family suppliers”.
“The decision by government is to be commended and will result in increased output of large animal veterinary practitioners who will have a focus on servicing of farming enterprises in rural Ireland during their training and education,” he said.
ATU plans to deliver a full-time, undergraduate programme in veterinary medicine which will have a dual campus delivery model between ATU Donegal and ATU Mountbellew, building on existing expertise and facilities within the university.
Subject to programme validation and other required approvals, ATU aims to commence its new Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery programme in September 2025 with an initial intake of 30 students.
ATU said it aims to engage with members of the veterinary profession across Ireland in its programme development, ensuring that it remains aligned with global standards and the needs of the profession in Ireland.
Meanwhile, Midlands-North West, MEP Maria Walsh, who supported ATU’s bid, said “work must begin immediately” on developing the new vet school in ATU, which will provide a “major boost” to the educational offering of the region.
“I am disappointed that the process took as long as it did, but ATU now has a clear mandate to work from. Crucially, secondary school students now know that studying veterinary medicine in the west of Ireland can be at the top of their CAO application,” she said.