Village Vets, the Irish veterinary group that operates 35 clinics across the State, has opened an advanced veterinary surgery clinic in Dundrum as part of a €6 million investment programme to scale up its treatment capabilities, creating 15 new jobs in the process.
The group, which is headed by vet and chief executive Charles Cosgrave, has pumped €2 million into the new facility in Dundrum in south Dublin.
Called CoraVets, the clinic is a joint venture between Village Vets and veterinary surgeon Dr Stephen Martin.
“It’s the only private, tertiary-level referral centre inside the M50,” Cosgrave told The Irish Times from Toronto, Canada on Tuesday. “It’s doing spinal surgery, smashed limbs, really complicated joint surgery, stuff like that. So, really elevating the standard of advanced veterinary care.”
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Cosgrave is in Toronto this week for the annual EY Entrepreneur of the Year chief executive retreat. He was a finalist in the awards programme in 2023.
The group has also invested €4 million in its network to upgrade existing hospitals and clinics, expand its 24-hour emergency care services and open two new companion animal clinics.
Of that investment, €1 million was spent on new facilities on greenfield sites in Celbridge, Co Kildare, and Portmarnock in north Co Dublin. The Celbridge site opened on Monday, and the group is expecting to open the shutters in Portmarnock next week, Cosgrave said.
Another €2.5 million has been invested in clinic upgrades across the group’s networks, including a doubling of the size of Village Vets’ primary clinic in Dundrum.
It is a difficult time to be investing in physical infrastructure in Ireland, the chief executive said, with building cost inflation running “pretty high”. However, he said, the group has long-standing relationships with “established partners” in the construction sector that help to manage costs.
Like many industries, veterinary medicine is facing a “huge skills shortage” at the moment, Cosgrave said.
[ Village Vets poised to open six new clinics as demand for top-end pet care growsOpens in new window ]
“It takes five years to get a vet through college,” he said. “And there’s been a huge increase in the number of pets. But there’s not enough staff to treat them as they start growing sick. And with the Covid boom in pets, they are now starting to become sick because they’re getting older, or a bit middle-aged.”
Village Vets, which was founded by Charles’s father, Karl Cosgrave, in 1980, sold a majority stake to Inflexion, a London-headquartered private equity firm, in late 2024.
Financial details of the transaction, which was approved by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, were not disclosed, but Inflexion is known to invest £10 million-£400 million in high-upside companies.
Cosgrave maintains a large stake in the group and has spearheaded its growth strategy since taking on the Inflexion investment.
