Mr. Keith Moynes:

I thank the committee for the invitation to come here today to discuss the very important topic of veterinary medicine provision in Ireland. I am assistant secretary with responsibility for higher education in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. This Department is responsible for the policy, funding and governance framework for the tertiary education, research and innovation system, which includes higher education and further education providers. Among our core aims is to support the sector in responding to regional and national demand for skills and innovation to support Ireland's economy and society, including critically in the context of this committee's area of interest, agriculture and the agrifood industry.

We work very closely with national agencies, including the Higher Education Authority. I know the committee has heard earlier from Dr. Wall, Mr. Conlon, and Dr. Brownlee from the HEA. Higher education institutions routinely engage with employers in the enterprise sector to ensure that graduate output aligns with the needs of enterprises, public services and the wider economy, and much of this would quite rightly be done at an institutional level. In certain cases, however, there is a need to take a national level perspective, including where Departments are leading workforce development initiatives to support public services or specific areas of the economy or where the scale of investment or engagement required cannot be met within the business-as-usual funding envelope. In these cases our Department seeks to work with other Departments to support them in articulating their workforce requirements, or requirements for their sector, so that they can determine the scale of the required graduate pipeline. In the case of veterinary medicine, the relevant partner is the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It is important to say that while graduate output is an important factor in the workforce, it is not the only one. There are issues such as the attractiveness of the profession and retention, which play critical roles. My colleague from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Mr. Sheahan, will touch on this.

Working closely with the Higher Education Authority, we seek to engage with the higher education system to determine the potential for the system to deliver in areas of skills demand, the nature of such provision and what enablers are required, including investment, policy levers and practical supports. The proposals which arise from such a process must be assessed having regard to resource availability both in terms of recurrent and capital expenditure and relative prioritisation of competing demands, all in the context of the public spending code.

Turning specifically to veterinary provision, since the late 1970s, University College Dublin, UCD, has been the only higher education institution to provide a veterinary medicine programme in the State, with both undergraduate and graduate entry programmes. UCD also provides a level 8 full-time undergraduate veterinary nursing course, as well as full-time and part-time postgraduate programmes, which includes PhDs and research masters, a doctorate in veterinary medical specialisation and postgraduate certificates in areas such as dairy herd health, small animal medicine and equine sports medicine.

Veterinary nursing programmes are also available in the Atlantic Technological University, the Technological University of the Shannon, and Dundalk Institute of Technology. While no official statistics are available on how many Irish students study outside the State in different disciplines, the Department is certainly aware that a number of Irish students travel outside the State every year to study veterinary medicine in institutions in the UK and in central and eastern Europe. There are many reasons students seek to study in institutions outside the State, and international mobility can be a positive experience for learners. However, the Department's understanding is that there is a relatively higher proportion of veterinary students studying internationally relative to other disciplines. The Minister, Deputy Harris, is on record as saying that he wants to see more Irish students being able to study veterinary medicine in Ireland. While it would never be the case that there would be one-to-one matching of supply and demand, there are very sound reasons why in the longer term Ireland would wish to have greater resilience in terms of domestic skill supply across a range of skills needs.

As with any academic discipline which is regulated, involves significant practical and placement work, and requires clinical facilities, there are real, material limits on the number of places that can be delivered without very significant additional investment. I set out in the opening statement provided to the committee the process which was followed by the Higher Education Authority in respect of the expressions of interest process. I might take that as read given that the HEA itself has been into the committee earlier and I will turn to the next steps.

We received the report in the Department a number of weeks ago from the Higher Education Authority. The Minister, Deputy Harris, has engaged in the first instance with his Cabinet colleagues, the Minister for Health, given that this relates not just to veterinary medicine provision but also to wider healthcare for humans, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in relation to the HEA's recommendations.

The expansion opportunities and scenarios identified by the HEA, if implemented, would have the potential to lead to a significant change in the number of domestic graduates which Ireland could produce in the relevant disciplines over the next decade. However it is important to recognise that these opportunities come with a very significant associated cost both in terms of capital, and ongoing staffing and resource implications. These will require careful consideration by the Departments concerned, and in due course, by the Government in the context of future Estimates and engagements on capital allocations.

It is important to say that the assessment and deliberative process on these matters is ongoing, and the Minister, Deputy Harris, intends updating the Government in the coming period in order to advise his colleagues of the opportunities identified through the capacity building process; to outline the costs that could arise with any expansion proceeded with and; to update on his engagements with his ministerial colleagues in Health and Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Given where we are in the process, and in advance of any discussions by the Government, I hope the committee will understand that it is not possible for me to elaborate on any potential outcomes of the process. Given that we are still in a deliberative process and feedback has not yet been provided to institutions, neither can I give specific indications on what the HEA recommended, beyond what the HEA indicated to the committee earlier in terms of the scenarios it provided to the Department.

More generally, both the Minister and the Department will continue to engage across the Government to identify priorities for the coming years and will continue to work with the HEA and the higher education sector to ensure alignment of graduate output with existing and emerging skills needs. I am happy to assist the committee in its considerations.