The plan to halve the number of vocational educational committees (VECs ) across the country in accordance with the McCarthy report was presented to Westmeath County Council this week.
The VEC employ around 25 people in Westmeath in offices on Pearse Street, Athlone and in the ORS building in Marlinstown, Mullingar, and it is believed it will merge with Offaly and Laois VECs. It is not expected there will be any immediate job losses, although redundancies may be naturally offered after the merger.
At the January monthly meeting of the county council on Monday, a letter from the Department of Education was brought to the attention of the members by Billy Coughlan from corporate services outlining the Government’s plan to reduce the overall number of VECs from 33 to 16 in the form of four questions to be decided upon.
The county council was invited to make submissions on whether “vocational education” should continue to be used in relation to the sector, or whether an alternative title might better reflect the developing roles of the sector; the titles by which the 16 VECs will be known, and in particular how much each title might best reflect the locality to be served; the location of its headquarters; and the future composition of each committee.
Whilst no direction is given in the letter, its author does suggest the location of the new headquarters be mindful of the cost of any redeployment from its present location on the Finisklin Road in Sligo.
