Hopes high for college campus breakthrough in Kilkenny
Regional backing for national vet college to be located in Kilkenny
Enormous momentum has been put behind the push to establish Teagasc Kildalton College in South Kilkenny as the location for the nation’s national veterinary college.
In recent days, South East Technological University (SETU) welcomed Oireachtas members from across the region to Kildalton for a briefing on the progress of the university’s proposed veterinary medicine and pharmacy programmes.
During the visit, SETU provided an update on the development of its strategic objectives, highlighting their preparedness to launch these new programmes.
“The proposal (for Kildalton to become the home of the new national veterinary college) is being assessed alongside two other locations,” noted Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan.
The President of SETU, Prof Veronica Campbell, emphasised the importance of the veterinary medicine and pharmacy programmes to the university’s strategic goals, particularly its objective to ‘drive transformation in the South-East region’.
“Our team outlined both the fantastic stakeholder support across the region and our partnership with Teagasc Kildalton College for course delivery,” she said.
Senator Malcolm Byrne, who convenes the South-East Oireachtas group that liaises with SETU, noted that ‘there is both cross-party and cross-county support from every TD, Senator and MEP in the region’.
“SETU is ready to offer world-class courses in these fields and after the ongoing assessment process, we expect the Government to announce that these have been awarded on merit,” he said.