Plans for a new medical school at the University of Limerick have received the backing of the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Mr Tim O'Malley.
Mr O'Malley said he was aware "the other universities have all made statements saying that the concept was flawed and they did not agree with it" but he did not accept their arguments.
"I would remind them they also made the same arguments when the Limerick university campaign started. We were told we would never have a university in Limerick, but thank God we went ahead and we have a thriving, state-of-the-art university in Limerick now," he said.
The university is planning to open the State's first graduate school of medicine in 2006.
"I spoke to the former minister for education, Noel Dempsey, about it, and during the past week I spoke briefly to the present Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, about it and I have got the support of the Tánaiste for the concept," he said.
Mr O'Malley said he was optimistic about its chances. "We will leave no stone unturned".
The new school would, he said, provide competition for the existing medical schools already in situ and would be welcomed by students who wished to study medicine, but either didn't decide this at the time of leaving school or didn't have the points to study it at undergraduate level.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State, who is a TD for Limerick East, said he saw "absolutely no conflict" between the development of a radiotherapy service in the mid-west, for which the sod was turned on Friday, and the Government-backed Hollywood report on where radiotherapy services should be sited. The report stated that services should be established in Dublin, Cork and Galway only in the immediate future, but Mr O'Malley said it also permitted the development of satellite radiotherapy centres in Limerick, Waterford and Letterkenny in the future.
"There was nobody from the mid-west region on the Hollywood committee so it did not surprise us that Limerick was not chosen. I'm absolutely thrilled it's going ahead now," he said, adding that it would spare cancer sufferers in the region having to make "that awful journey" to Dublin for treatment.
The new service is being funded by the Mid-Western Hospitals Development Trust and will be run in conjunction with the Mater Private Hospital. It is due to open before the end of next year.