Veterinary practices across the State are having difficulty recruiting vets. Many are retiring and many are leaving and we simply do not train enough to replace them. While there is a demand for veterinary studies, there are not sufficient higher education places and the drop-out rate can be quite high. The State needs a second veterinary school to address the challenges in recruitment. Many Irish students are currently studying veterinary medicine in European universities in Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. Discussions have recently been held with the University of Limerick regarding the establishment of a veterinary school on that campus. As the Taoiseach will know, the University of Limerick, located in the heart of the Golden Vale, has established fantastic programmes in equine science and antimicrobial resistance and would be well placed for the establishment of a veterinary school. The establishment of such a school should be a priority and I am eager to hear where the Higher Education Authority is with regard to the possibility of establishing such a school on the University of Limerick campus and what other higher education facilities have been considered with regard to any such establishment.

I thank Deputy Quinlivan for the question. This is something I have been working on with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris. There is a need and demand for additional veterinary medicine places. We are not training enough domestically to meet the demand. The Minister, Deputy Harris, has initiated a process with the Higher Education Authority around inviting and accepting applications from across the country to provide those additional places. A process is under way to assess those applications. The Higher Education Authority will then work with the Minister on the matter. He will be consulting and engaging with me and my Department with regard to rolling this out.