THE GOVERNMENT HAS ANNOUNCED it will cut the number of Vocational Education Committees (VECs) from 33 to 16.

A government statement described the plan as “restructuring”, saying that the committees were being consolidated.

The Tánaiste said the cut was “part of the overall Government agenda to transform how our public services are delivered.”

Mary Coughlan said that the consolidation “ensures that each of the 16 VECs will be organisations of sufficient scale to support the evolution of local education service delivery and to meet future challenges”.

Last year, economist Colm McCarthy had recommended reducing the number of VECs to 22.

Coughlan said she would introduce legislation to the Dáil tomorrow which will provide for the VECs’ involvement in primary education.

RTÉ reports that the representative body of the VECs, the Irish Vocation Education Association (IVEA), said it was considering the announcement.

VECs provide educational training and operate secondary schools and further education colleges. They also provide adult and further education, according to the IVEA.

The 16 VECs have been outlined as follows:

• Co Dublin and Dun Laoghaire
• City of Dublin
• City of Galway and Co Galway
• City of Cork
• Co Cork
• City of Limerick, Co Limerick and Co Kerry
• City of Waterford, Co Waterford and Tipperary South Riding
• Donegal
• Wexford and Wicklow
• Carlow, Kilkenny and Kildare
• Laois, Offaly and Westmeath
• Louth and Meath
• Cavan and Monaghan
• Mayo and Sligo
• Leitrim, Roscommon and Longford
• Clare and Tipperary North Riding