James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 155: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide a definitive breakdown of the potential financial outlay associated with the locating of the headquarters of the merged Longford and Westmeath vocational education committees in Mullingar, County Westmeath, with particular reference to rental cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28683/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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In November of last year, my officials sought information regarding head office accommodation from Co Westmeath VEC and Co Longford VECs. Information provided on foot of that request indicates the office in Mullingar has 630 square meters of office space with capacity for a total of 41 staff and that there were 39 head office staff in total employed in both VECs. The rental costs of VEC buildings are not collated centrally. However, both headquarter buildings in Mullingar and Longford are leased.

In arriving at this decision, I considered a range of factors including the need to ensure that the location of a VEC headquarters will, to the greatest extent possible, facilitate staff redeployment under a redeployment scheme within the context of the Croke Park Agreement and the need to operate at lowest cost having regard to the accommodation available in existing locations. In determining Mullingar as a headquarter location, I was aware that both Co. Westmeath and Co. Longford VECs are very closely matched. I am satisfied that geographically, Mullingar is the most favourable location for the HQ.