Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey. I also welcome this initiative. Reducing the number of VECs from 33 to 16 is a good move. I support what Senator Norris said with regard to a university being established in Waterford. Members on all sides would support any initiative in this regard because we would all like to see a university being set up in Waterford.

Galway city and Galway county VECs are to be amalgamated, which is good. There are those who disagree with this plan but the savings of €42 million which can be achieved are crucial. I am of the opinion that amalgamating these institutions will give rise to a more coherent service. In such circumstances, this is a win-win initiative.

We must ask whether there will be a need to reduce the number of VECs again in the future. Amalgamating VECs throughout the country and moving to the use of a more regional model is probably a very positive development. Major debates are taking place at present in respect of the patronage of schools and a number of different considerations are emerging. The various churches - which were the traditional patrons of schools - are in many cases seeking to move away from the provision of education. This will lead to the development of a more secular education sector. In many instances, VECs are stepping in to become patrons. However, it is not correct to state that the various VECs are all the same.

I am of the view that an evolution is taking place with regard to what constitutes a vocational education committee. For example, the type of education provided is no longer strictly of the vocational variety. Different forms of education and different types of service are now provided by the VECs. I attended a meeting last night at which there was a discussion on proposals to establish a secondary school in Claregalway in County Galway. Such a move would make major sense. The various patrons being considered in this regard are the Catholic Church, the local VEC and the Educate Together movement. The latter is now intent on providing secondary as well as primary education. It has already put in place a huge number of primary schools throughout the country and I am sure it is going to follow this with a similar number of second level schools.

I commend the Department of Education and Skills, which has moved forward with its process for allocating second level schools. In the past, we were presented with, in essence, a system of political patronage and political lobbying was what gave rise to decisions on where to locate secondary schools. Obviously, the process in this regard was informed by the numbers of children in particular areas and whether a school needed to be provided. However, the reality was that it all came down to a ministerial decision and, as such, it was up to local people to lobby the relevant individuals. The introduction of a proper process in respect of the allocation of secondary schools is an important and positive initiative on the part of the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills. I welcome what has been done in this regard.

A number of small VECs may not be very efficient in the context of how they operate. In that context, this initiative will allow for a proper rationalisation of the system and will give rise to greater efficiencies. I am of the opinion that we need to consider the services that VECs are providing. In addition, we must examine the position regarding the patronage of schools, particularly from the point of view of coherent policy.

I listened with great interest and respect to the contributions of Senator Quinn and Ormonde. Senator Quinn, in particular, referred to the Student Support Bill. I will be taking an interest in that legislation and asking some questions which may give rise to some slight expense. I am of the view that we should foster all the children of the national equally when it comes to education.

I notice that Educate Together in the past held a position where each new school set up a patronage on an individual basis for primary schools. This was not very efficient and Educate Together is now trying to rationalise the process so there is a single patron for all the schools in the country. With the VECs we are talking about individual local patrons, which is not necessarily the most efficient way of acting. As another Senator mentioned, we are also looking at VECs potentially providing primary education.

It is an interesting position as to how the two major secular organisations are providing schools, although I am not forgetting gaelscoileanna. VECs mainly provide secondary schools but are trying to move to the primary area. Educate Together mainly deals with primary schools but it is trying to move to the secondary area. Clear policy on this is important and although it is vital to have local level decision making, it is also important to have a coherent national policy as to how schools operate. It is important that when we consider the merging of VECs, we look at the policy for service provision by those VECs as well. It is not good enough simply to say VECs will be allowed to evolve without any national guidelines. That is not what is happening and although there is a level of national policy, it could be strengthened.

In future, patronage of schools should be very transparent. The Green Party very much favours a move to a more secular provision of education. However, it is absolutely crucial that the religious requirements of people are provided for, with the great traditions in the religious area heeded regardless of what is the local school. That is a key point.

This move is a great opportunity as well as being a money-saving device. I urge the Minister for Education and Skills to consider an ongoing process in terms of further rationalising different VECs to see if we can provide a more coherent approach to the provision of vocational education.