UL pulls out of race for vet school

University of Limerick (UL) has pulled out of the running to house the country’s new school of veterinary medicine.

UL has confirmed that it notified the Higher Education Authority (HEA) of its intention to withdraw its expression of interest for the new vet school.

The university’s veterinary school planning committee, established in late 2023, considered a number of options to facilitate the vet school.

The preferred option for teaching facilities and equipment was estimated to cost €56.15m.

This significantly exceeds the figure of €37.5m confirmed by UL in April 2023, which was included in the assessment of the university’s proposal by the HEA.

Also, earlier this year, the HEA paused UL’s capital spending due to an investigation invoked by special powers into its spending and governance procedures.

It was reported that UL spent over the odds for properties in Rhebogue and the old Dunnes Stores in Limerick city.

Email

Acting president of UL Shane Kilcommins confirmed in an email to its staff and students on Thursday 12 September that he had withdrawn the expression of interest.

“Given the significant estimated capital cost of the proposal, the current pause on capital expenditure and the circumstances the university finds itself in, and having considered it at executive committee, I have written to HEA CEO Alan Wall to withdraw UL’s expression of interest as part of this process,” he said.

However, Kilcommins did not rule out a UL-based vet school in the future.

“We recognise the pressing need for additional veterinary places and we remain interested in responding to that in the medium term. I would like to sincerely thank the members of the veterinary school planning committee for their commitment to the project.

“In the meantime, we will continue to focus on a strong recovery plan for the university in the light of the section 64 review and will continue to deliver our range of existing academic programmes, including the possibility of extending our offerings in some critical demand areas,” he added.

Left in the running

There are now three universities left on the HEA’s shortlist for Ireland’s new vet school.

These are Atlantic Technological University (ATU), South East Technological University (SETU) and University College Dublin (UCD) in an expanded form.

An announcement is expected in the coming days.