New schools of veterinary medicine and pharmacy

Question:

87. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the progress in the assigning of new schools of veterinary medicine and pharmacy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45218/23]

Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh

I wish to ask a question about the plans to formulate new schools for veterinary medicine and pharmacy within our third level sector. The Minister will know I have a strong regional interest in this in that South East Technological University has strong bids for both courses. It is one of the things the university sector is very much looking forward to. There are a number of institutions, not just South East Technological University, SETU, looking at this. What is the progress in this regard, what is the timeline and when can we expect a decision to be made?

Deputy Simon Harris

I thank Deputy Ó Cathasaigh for this question, which is about an issue we have discussed on many occasions. First, the fact that relatively newly formed universities, including South East Technological University, had the ability and the capacity themselves to put in such strong bids, as the Deputy said, that were deemed to be viable by an independent assessments panel speaks to the real credibility and heft of South East Technological University. That is the first thing I wish to acknowledge. I had a chance to congratulate and thank some of the team in person at the National Ploughing Championships but I wish to do so again on the record of the Dáil.

Ensuring a supply of qualified vets and pharmacists to meet the demands of Ireland’s agrifood and healthcare sector is a really important issue for my Department.

A number of institutions, as the Deputy said, put forward proposals, following a recent Higher Education Authority, HEA, expression-of-interest process. We basically went out and asked the system what more it could do for us in terms of veterinary places, pharmacy places and other healthcare places. The institutions outlined options not only for the expansion of existing veterinary medicine and pharmacy programmes but also for the development of entirely new programmes.

As Deputy Ó Cathasaigh is aware, there is a substantial capital cost associated with the development of any new school in veterinary medicine and pharmacy, and it is important we understand the full scale of all costs and what is planned for. The options identified through the HEA’s process have the potential to transform – I do not use that word lightly – the number of students who can take up places in these key areas. This will be an expansion at a scale rarely seen across five high-demand areas, of which the Deputy has referred to two, and will of course require a significant investment of public funding in our institutions.

Detailed discussions need to take place and are taking place about the ways and means to address capital costs for the provision of any new school, including in the context of the expected upcoming review of our national development plan.

The factual answer is that I am now working on the veterinary piece with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, on the pharmacy piece with the Minister for Health and on the next steps with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. I hope to be in a position to make progress in the NDP review, which I am led to believe is likely to be towards the end of this year or the very start of next year.

Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh

We will not be unhappy with the idea of increased capital funding or increased capital costs because the university that has been founded in the south east to serve the needs of the region is crying out for capital investment. I know it has acquired the Waterford Crystal site and is acquiring another site in Wexford, but it will have to develop on it. Kildalton college stands ready to be a part of this offering. We have a strong agriculture sector in the south east. We also have the strong horse-racing element, which would justify the need for the veterinary training aspect. We also have an extremely strong and vibrant pharma sector in Waterford, which would fit very well with a new college in that regard, remembering what the point of developing a university in the south east is and was.

It is about reversing that historical brain drain from the south east and providing university quality education in the region.

Deputy Simon Harris

Without prejudicing processes or next steps in any way, it is interesting and encouraging that, on a regional basis, such strong ideas came forward. I mention not just strong ideas or hopes, because everyone is ambitious for their area, but when these bids were analysed by independent experts on an assessment panel that included, for example, the chief veterinary officer, they were deemed to be viable proposals for further consideration. The SETU proposed that veterinary would be provided through a three-partner model with Teagasc through the Kildalton Agricultural College and a distributive small animal clinical network as well. The factual position is that the higher education system has stepped up. It has told the Government and Oireachtas what more it is possible to do in key areas where we know we need more people and need to train more people to better deliver the services in agriculture regarding veterinary and in healthcare regarding pharmacy. Now the Government, in the round, will need to decide how it wishes to address this through the NDP review.

Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh

I am not at all surprised that the likes of SETU has provided something that has proved to be independently viable. Waterford Institute of Technology, as it was, had to punch above its weight for years. It was forced to do so and to behave as though it was the university for the south east because it effectively was. I am delighted to see that ambition remaining under the new configuration and management. It is vital for the region. Some 600,000 people live within a one-hour drive of Waterford. That figure relates only to the Waterford campus and does not take account of the number of people who would rely on the Carlow campus or the new Wexford campus, which is under development. There is a strong case to be made for this type of investment. It is exactly the kind of driver we need for SETU to allow it to take a great step forward and provide for the needs of the young people in the region. The capital investment that would be attendant on the development of a new school of this type, either in farming or veterinary, would be hugely significant for the university.

Deputy Simon Harris

I welcome all support and allies in making the case for increased capital for the higher education sector given the difference the Deputy and I know it would make to the regions. I am not satisfied that so many young people are leaving the country to study veterinary medicine abroad. It is a disproportionately high number. We see in the number of people registering on the Veterinary Council of Ireland register every year how many of them have been educated abroad. The overwhelming majority of new entrants to the register each year are educated abroad. We have to be able to do better. This country is proud of its agriculture and agrifood sectors and our regions. Our higher education sector has put up its hand and said that whether it is SETU, the Atlantic Technological University, the University of Limerick or more than one university, we can do more and better. I will be putting our best foot forward in agriculture, with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and in healthcare, with the Minister for Health, to make the case in the NDP review for driving some of these projects forward.