SEVENTEEN of the country's 38 vocational education committees should be abolished and the involvement of politicians in the VECs should be significantly reduced, according to a new report prepared for the Minister for Education.
The report from the steering group of the Commission on School Accommodation Needs proposes a three phase rationalisation of the VECs.
This would begin with the amalgamation of town VECs in Bray, Drogheda, Sligo, Wexford and Tralee with the committees in their surrounding counties.
Local politicians would be allocated about one third of the seats on committees, compared to more than half in many VECs at present.
Demographic trends and the demand for more efficient use of resources are given as the main reasons for recommending a reduction from 38 to 21 VECs.
The Irish Vocational Education Association condemned the report as "disorganised, indiscriminate tampering" with the legislation governing the VECs. "It will destroy the ethos of the vocational sector, create chaos and make the sector unworkable," the IVEA general secretary, Mr Joe Rooney, said.
The report, Rationalisation of Vocational Education Committees, also makes major recommendations for changes in the way teachers are appointed to posts in the vocational sector. This follows a submission from the Teachers' Union of Ireland which claimed that in some VECs the process of appointing teachers and principals had become over politicised.
The second phase of rationalisation would see the amalgamation of the committees in Limerick City and Co Limerick; Waterford City and Co Waterford; Galway City and Co Galway; and Dun Laoghaire and Co Dublin.
This would be followed by the following inter county amalgamations: Longford and Westmeath; Laois and Offaly; Mayo and Roscommon; Cavan and Monaghan; Sligo and Leitrim; Carlow and Kilkenny; Clare and Tipperary North Riding; and Waterford and Tipperary South Riding.
The TUI president Ms Alice Prendergast, yesterday welcomed the protection of teachers' conditions of service which is proposed in the report.
How ever, she described the proposed cut in the VECs as "excessive".
Closing down VECs will prove a "false economy", the IVEA said. The association is seeking an early meeting with the Minister.
