Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. Given that we are concerned here predominantly with the rationalisation of VECs and the work commenced a number of years ago, if we look back at the VEC system in place for the last number of years we can see that, by and large, it has served the State very well. The vocational schools set up in the 1940s and 1950s hugely benefited the communities in which they were established. The VECs took on an enormous amount of additional responsibility in respect of adult learning and second-chance education and the system grew enormously. At the very start, the concept was an excellent one and it grew to where we are today.

A number of issues relate to all aspects of what VECs do, ranging from post-primary schools to third level education. In my area, the VEC was asked by the Department to get involved in sourcing a site for a primary school in Kanturk. That was very successful because there were difficulties in getting a site that would be suitable for everybody. The officials in the VEC put in a huge amount of work together with the Office of Public Works to find a resolution. I wish to put on the record that VECs have been involved in primary education in some instances and have been very successful in this regard.

As we come to a decision to amalgamate and rationalise the VECs we should make sure we protect the system and the brilliance of the people working in VECs. Every Deputy engaged in constituency work knows that there are sometimes discrepancies between VECs and different interpretations by particular VECs and bodies in respect of legislation and regulations introduced at central Government level. Over the past five or six years, I have been debating with the Department, a number of VECs and the county council about the awarding of third level grants, particularly for people going on to postgraduate courses, such as PhDs. Some VECs have interpreted the legislation and regulations in a different way to others. We have been going back and forth between the grant awarding body with which I have been in discussions and the Department to find clarification. I will not go into the intricacies of the case on the floor of the Dáil but some of them have different interpretations of when the year began or when the funding was in place.

We need uniformity across the sector. We sought information from VECs and grant awarding bodies across the country about their interpretation of a particular rule. The interpretations were completely different. Everybody would say that there is one piece of legislation governing a particular body or there is one piece of legislation that is interpreted in a specific way for the entire country. As we go forward with this new initiative and the amalgamation of the VECs across the country, it is important to have a look at how VECs interpret legislation and regulations.

Since the introduction of free education in the 1960s we have seen the development of community schools. The previous speaker spoke about the amalgamation of schools, which is ongoing in towns where two or three schools are coming together to form one. This is a significant process involving a huge amount of work but, by and large, it is very successful. We have seen comprehensive schools and community schools which sprang up across the country and the good work they have done over the years is second to none. Comprehensive schools, of which there are a limited number, were devised for a specific reason. Apart from the governing structure, they mirror what happens in community colleges. Much work has been done in both mainstream education and evening classes.

The care and attention shown by the teachers and management of schools must be regarded with great respect not just in this country but throughout the world. People have benefited enormously from it. Reports written in the 1940s and 1950s argued that one of the best ways of getting out of poverty was through the education system. It took some sectors a significant amount of effort but if one looks at any census going back to the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and indeed back to the late 1800s, one sees the number of people born in this country who emigrated because there was no future for them here.

I know we face challenging and difficult times but one of our greatest strengths is our education system. Some people left school with a dim view of education and elitism about people who were able to access education was prevalent. People have excelled in the private or public sectors who were only able to access education through the community and comprehensive schools that sprang up in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They came up through the free education system. Any analysis of the socio-economic benefit of this trend would stand the test of time. It has been of enormous benefit because in previous generations many families with significant academic ability would not have had the money to pay for education. There is an argument relating to fee-paying schools at the moment but the most important thing is that we support community and comprehensive schools and those schools that have provided an outstanding education to those who, in previous generations, would not have been able to access it.

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