The Government is to press ahead with halving the number of Vocational Education Committees (VECs) across the country.
It has published plans to reduce the number from 33 to 16.
The previous Fianna Fail government said Cork would retain Corks seperate VECs,
but alas the ‘new’ Fine Gael-Labour coalition have now said the axe will fall.
This Journalist has little time for the VECs. In my various dealings with them I was unimpressed.
Years ago I applied for a Clerical job to no avail,
later a Grant to no avail,
later I needed a reaction to a News story and never got a call back,
and finally in my dealings with VEC colleges I have found their operation to be sloppy in many respects,
their slowness in issuing course results has cost many a student a job opportunity. At the time of writing
I am waiting on a result, and my CV is incomplete.
But alas this decision doesn’t affect me, I will never have a job in a VEC as they cannot recruit under the embargo,
indeed I fear for the jobs of those working there, when two organisations merge duplication is elimated. One can’t have
two bosses!
Cork County Councillor Noel O Connor (no apostophe) is President of the IVEA, the umbrella body of the VEC’s
In a statement this afternoon he said
as a member of Cork County VEC, I am disappointed that the Minister has decided to put the Cork city and the county VECs together, as it was pointed out that an amalgamated structure in Cork would be ,of such a large scale, that it would be more effective to let these two VECs to co exist as they are presently…
but he concludes
…The IVEA will now work with the Minister for Education Science and skills, Deputy Ruari Quinn ,T D, in seeking to have a smooth process in implementation of the Minister and the Cabinet’s decision announced to day.
The Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn said legislation to give effect to the changes is being prepared.
The revised plans include the merging of Cities and Counties, and some Neighbouring Counties creating names just like Dail Constituencies like “Cavan-Monaghan” and “Laois-Offaly, and so on.
The McCarthy report of 2009 estimated that the merging of VECs could save in the region of €3m annually.
It has yet to be decided where the headquarters of the newly configured VECs will be located, one expects many Sydney vs Melbourne issues will be seen.