A north Kilkenny county councillor, Mary Hilda Cavanagh, is furious with the out-dated laws that govern the county VEC committee which led to the compulsory resignation of one female member in Kilkenny this week.
Cllr Cavanagh has called on the Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe to amend regulations introduced by Fianna Fáil in 2004 which require a gender ratio relationship between VECs and county councils and have resulted in a number of women having to resign from VECs around the country.
Speaking at Monday’s meeting on Co Kilkenny VEC, Cllr Cavanagh said: “I believe that the 2004 regulations were designed to ensure that women were represented on VECs, not to limit the number of women allowed to serve on committees.
“Co Kilkenny VEC has recently been faced with the same ridiculous situation as that of other counties where women appointed to the VEC have had to resign to make way for men to meet the proportionality requirements of the ministerial regulations.
“Women frequently constitute a majority in educational settings so it is not surprising that they would want to serve on VECs. I have found my own career as a teacher to have been a great asset when serving on Co Kilkenny VEC. But a very simple action by Minister O’Keeffe would solve this problem. I believe the current regulations have resulted in situations not envisaged at the time of drafting.”
Cllr Cavanagh said that rather than allowing this situation to continue, the Minister should bring in a simple, swift amendment to the current regulations and she asked that he address the situation immediately.
