Fine Gael councillor Noreen Heston has resigned from Mayo VEC in order to focus on her work with local residents in the town. In her resignation letter she stressed that she wanted to concentrate on “my core responsibilities as a member of Castlebar Town Council and, especially, my work with residents’ associations”.
The Castlebar town councillor said that her time on Mayo VEC gave her a great insight into the organisation and added that there is great work being done by the organisation under its current chairman, Councillor Jarlath Munnelly, and its CEO, Dr Katie Sweeney. However she believes that the VEC could be enhanced if some changes were implemented. “The VEC is highly politicised and this needs to be addressed together with the expenses regime currently in place,” Cllr Heston said. “I have full confidence in the current chairman Cllr Jarlath Munnelly and in my Fine Gael colleagues on the committee to tackle these issues.” Among the observations and suggestions she makes are that those working in the educational system are best placed to represent the educational needs of the people of Mayo and therefore should be the majority grouping on the VEC.
Quarterly meetings of the committee should be adequate which would result in significant budgetary savings.
Appointment of VEC members to school management boards should take account of geographical considerations to reduce the impact of travelling expenses on the organisation’s budget.
One of the positions on the committee should be held by a student representative.
Cllr Heston concluded: “Whilst my main focus is on the problems of residents’ associations and the pursuit of developers who continue to evade their responsibilities, I remain committed to reform. I am encouraged by the commitment of my party leader, Enda Kenny, to introduce reform at every level of the political system. He has undertaken to introduce reform from the top down. I, for my part, intend to introduce reform from the bottom up. This is one step in achieving that aim.”
