Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Mary Coughlan. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the background to the Government decision to reduce the overall number of VECs.

Arising from the recommendation of the special group on public service numbers and expenditure programmes in July 2009, that the number of VECs could be reduced in number from 33 to 22, the Government has decided to reduce the number of VECs from 33 to 16 in order to deal with issues of scale and having regard to the current and prospective requirements of the education sector. Accordingly, the Government has decided on the merger of particular counties including the merger of County Kerry VEC with County Limerick VEC and City of Limerick VEC.

Although a number of indicators could be used to identify the scale of operation of a VEC such as size of budget and number of second level schools, it is fair to say that a VEC's overall budget is the broadest measure of activity because it includes adult education and other provisions not easily captured otherwise.

With regard to County Kerry VEC, County Limerick VEC and City of Limerick VEC, the position is that at present, each of these has an overall budget of less than €40 million. County Kerry VEC has a budget of €37 million; County Limerick VEC has a budget of €39 million while the budget for the City of Limerick VEC is as low as €27 million. In terms of the number of schools which the VECs operate, County Kerry has eight schools, County Limerick has nine schools and City of Limerick has three schools. This data reflects a size and scale of operation which is representative of a significant number of existing VECs which makes restructuring of the sector a key priority.

The merging of County Kerry VEC with County Limerick VEC and City of Limerick VEC will create a VEC which has the critical mass of activity inherent in an administrative budget of €103 million while retaining the flexibility and adaptability which has characterised the VECs in this area to date. In arriving at this combination, account was also taken of geographic factors such as the total area covered by the new VEC, the distance between extremities of the area, the road network within the area and the alignment of other regional structures.

This new structure will provide the people of County Kerry and the people of County Limerick with a VEC which is designed to better position the sector to support the evolution of service delivery not just in schools under the direct governance of a VEC but in the wider education sector. This new, larger VEC will be better able to establish shared services and to provide support services to schools not just within the VEC sector but to primary schools and other second level schools in the Kerry and Limerick areas.

While the decision involves a significant departure from the present position, where there are one or more VECs in each county, the continuation of strong linkages between the new VEC and the counties that are merged to form it will be a fundamental feature of the new structure. Each of the counties concerned will have representation on the new VEC committee. The titles to be given to the new VEC and how it might best reflect the identities of the merging counties of Limerick and Kerry is one of the detailed items that will be covered in the consultations with stakeholders. The location of the headquarters of the new VEC will be determined later. This will require engagement by the Department with the VECs concerned.

I thank Deputy Deenihan for affording me the opportunity to respond to the House on this matter.

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