University of Limerick shelves plan to build veterinary school
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The University of Limerick has cancelled its application to build a multi-million euro veterinary school, due to “the circumstances the university finds itself in”.
UL’s acting chief officer provost Shane Kilcommins has written to the university’s staff to announce that he has advised the Higher Education Authority “to withdraw UL’s expression of interest” in building the new veterinary medicine school.
Ireland currently has just one school of veterinary medicine, located at UCD, and demand for places usually exceeds supply, forcing many students to go abroad or choose other career paths.
UL first submitted its proposal for the construction of the school in April of last year. It had been projected to cost upwards of €50m, with the HEA subsequently deeming the idea to be viable.
The plan was one of three to proceed beyond the application stage, with the assessment of the relevant business case the next step in the process.
Prof Kilcommins said he had advised HEA chief executive Alan Wall that UL’s application was to be withdrawn for several reasons, including “the significant estimated capital cost of the proposal, the current pause on capital expenditure, and the circumstances the university finds itself in”.
In his note to staff, Prof Kilcommins said the university’s executive recognises “the pressing need for additional veterinary places, and we remain interested in responding to that in the medium term”.
UL is currently undertaking a self-investigation process mandated by the HEA on foot of a scandal emerging earlier this year involving the acquisition of 20 houses for student accommodation at Rhebogue in the city for €5m more than they were worth.
It is understood that the university has completed an initial report for the authority on the back of that review — which was commissioned under Section 64 of the 2022 HEA Act — but that report is currently being revised following feedback from the HEA.
“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,” Prof Kilcommins said on Thursday.
The university experienced a seismic few months earlier this year after the confirmation of the Rhebogue loss by then president Kerstin Mey last March.
Ms Mey initially went on sick leave following that revelation, before resigning her role with the understanding that she would be reassuming her role as professor of visual culture at the university — the role for which she was first hired in 2018 — from this month.
It is understood that Ms Mey has not been seen on campus since the beginning of September, however.
UL is set to appear before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee on October 3, a follow-up session to its previous hearing last May when the officials present suggested that financial controls at the university had been “overridden” in order for approval for the Rhebogue transaction to be achieved.