Ireland's national animal health strategy document of 2022 highlighted the role played by farm animal vets in safeguarding biosecurity, animal health and welfare. Veterinary practices across Tipperary and Ireland are experiencing enormous difficulties in recruiting and retaining vets for clinical practise. We have a crisis in the delivery of veterinary education and the retention of vets. The career dissatisfaction among practising vets shows that career expectations do not match the reality of veterinary practise.

We need to enhance the recruitment and education models for vets. There is obvious interest in the profession. UCD hosts the only veterinary college in Ireland. It is hopelessly short on placements. At present, only one in four registered vets are educated in UCD. Over 500 Irish students currently study veterinary in colleges across eastern Europe. Ireland urgently needs a second veterinary school specifically to address this recruitment and retention crisis. An inability to provide sufficient veterinary care into the future will negatively impact animal welfare and agribusiness. The agrifood sector is Ireland's oldest and largest indigenous exporting sector. In the mid-west region, the sector provides up to 14% of employment. Munster is effectively Ireland's animal food production heartland and the new veterinary school should be based in the University of Limerick.

International veterinary education is increasingly moving towards a hybrid model utilising practice clinical sites as well as the traditional on-campus teaching hospital. This model gives students a better balance of first opinion and specialist referral cases. The medical school at the University of Limerick, UL, has pioneered a similar model for general medical practitioners and the university has now proposed a similar model for veterinary education. UL has also established research programmes in human medicine, equine science, dairy processing, biomedical science and antimicrobial resistance, which would complement veterinary teaching and research.

The new veterinary school will need to work with veterinary practice networks and regional agricultural and equestrian educators. It will also need to work with specialist veterinary providers such as Fethard Equine Hospital in Tipperary. This is a world-class equine referral hospital and has the capability and willingness to host students on specialist rotations.

UL has always been an innovator in education and is uniquely positioned to address the issues in veterinary education with a different recruitment emphasis and an innovative model of delivery. Planning for national skill needs in the veterinary sector must be a priority and should be prioritised by this Government through the funding of a new world-class centre for veterinary education. Simply adding some additional places on the current programme at UCD would not address the problems in veterinary services. We need the new model of veterinary education that has been proposed and which can be delivered by the University of Limerick. I ask for Government support to establish this much-needed facility.

I thank Deputy Lowry for raising this important issue. All of us in the House agree that we need to train more vets. Government is looking at different options as to how to do that. One option is to expand the existing veterinary school and another is to establish a new veterinary school in another part of the country. Many people want to study veterinary medicine but we do not have enough places for them. I would like to create more. That is not just important to give people the opportunity to become vets but will also be beneficial for our farming and agriculture sector, horse breeding and animal welfare. The Minister, Deputy Harris, is currently examining this matter, including an expansion of the existing provision and a significant increase. Work is currently subject to a detailed examination by the Higher Education Authority, HEA.

With regard to veterinary provision, a panel is being established to assess the applications that have been received. These applications will be reviewed by a panel comprising the Veterinary Council of Ireland and the chief veterinary officer. We do not place a quota on the number of places higher education institutions offer on veterinary medicine courses. The number of places provided each year is determined by the institutions themselves in line with their capacity, although they obviously must be funded to provide these places.

As part of this examination, the Higher Education Authority has expressed an interest in hearing from higher education institutions that are interested in providing more places in dentistry, pharmacy, medicine, nursing and veterinary medicine and that have the capability to expand existing courses or create new courses in the academic year 2024-2025 or 2025-2026. The second stage of this process has now commenced with the HEA's recent announcement of the appointment of an expert advisory panel to review the opportunities for new programmes. The panel consists of representatives from Departments and regulatory and professional bodies which have direct professional experience, academic expertise or both in the relevant disciplines or knowledge of the higher education system at senior level.

As regulator, the Veterinary Council of Ireland is the competent authority and has robust accreditation processes to ensure that all veterinary training in Ireland meets national and international standards. Any programmes deemed viable by the HEA will be subject to Veterinary Council of Ireland accreditation to validate and ensure high standards of veterinary medicine in Ireland. Such accreditation enables professional recognition in Ireland, which also affords access to registration in the UK, Europe and Australasia.

UCD is talking about expanding its course by eight to ten places, which is not sufficient. There is a very strong argument for developing a regional balance. UL is a creative and innovative university and is exceptionally progressive. It has made an application and people in the mid-west support it, as do I as a representative of the people of Tipperary. How many institutes of higher education have expressed an interest under the current process?

What is the decision-making process and what is the timescale for making such a decision? Since graduate entry programmes tend to have higher retention rates in education and other professions, would the Government consider funding graduate entry for veterinary education? Will the decision-making process take into consideration the requirement for an all-Ireland veterinary programme with graduates fully accredited by the Veterinary Council of Ireland and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons? This is obviously critical as Ireland is a single unit from a disease perspective on our shared island.

As I explained earlier there is a process under way trying to figure out how many additional places we will have in medicine, nursing, veterinary medicine and pharmacy as well as where they will be located. I do not know the exact number of universities that have made applications but I know a number of universities and technology universities have. It would be wrong for me to prejudice the outcome of that examination. Suffice it to say that there are a number of options open to us. It could be expanding the existing centres. It could be creating new ones. It could be a combination of both; that is certainly a possibility as well.

The process is being managed by the HEA and the applications are currently being reviewed. I do not know exactly who has applied and who has not. If I can find out and if I am allowed to tell the Deputy I will. I do not see why that would be a secret. The applications through the process have been managed by the HEA. The Minister has not seen the proposals and cannot comment on the content of the proposals. The HEA will consider the opportunities for new programme provision alongside current programme expansion and will present the final list of options to the Minister in the first quarter of this year - so sooner rather than later I think it is fair to say.

I will have to come back to the Deputy on the all-island programme issue.