Cuts in education may cause 'social revolution' - VEC chief

The chief executive of Co. Westmeath VEC has told the Westmeath Examiner of his belief that a 'social revolution' may erupt when cutbacks in education begin to take effect in September.And that this situation may be aggravated by further cuts proposed in the 'An Bord Snip' report. Gearóid Ó Brádaigh said this week that while Westmeath VEC is prepared to embrace any changes to its own structures, the pain endured by families adapting to any cuts in education may have more profound and long-term effects."If it's to be, then it's to be," Mr. Ó Brádaigh said about the McCarthy Report's proposal to streamline vocational education committees across the country."Everybody is talking about the country pulling itself out of the dire situation it is currently in, and if that involves rationalising, and making existing services spread themselves over a greater area of responsibility, then so be it."Looking at it objectively, in a country of this size, we have probably got far too many politicians, far too many local authorities and far too many public bodies."When you consider that one local authority runs the entire city of Berlin and its surrounding areas for something like a hundred miles, with a population of over 10 million people, you begin to ask yourself why we need 166 TDs, so many senators and 33 local authorities."I would be quite happy to live with a revised type of situation."Mr. Ó Brádaigh said that it is unwise to take on board the recommendations of An Bord Snip, without taking into account the pending report from the Commission on Taxation."The Commission on Taxation report is overdue, and it's important to take it into consideration first before the An Bord Snip recommendations are taken on board."I would like to see a balance between the revenue increasing side, through taxation, and any proposed cost cutting on the expenditure side.But the county VEC chief said that he is quite unhappy with what he sees as savage proposed cuts and adjustments in education, in areas such as school transport, class sizes and specialist grants."The amount of money which is going to be saved from all of these proposed cuts is, relatively speaking, a pittance. I think the social effects of these will have much more cost. There will be a generational effect."There's going to be a social revolution, when kids return to school in September, and parents see the full extent of cuts in education, and how exactly these cuts bed in."The An Bord Snip report, published last week, recommended that the number of city and county VECs be reduced from 33 to 22, including a possible amalgamation of certain VECs on a regional basis (saving €3 million).The report also recommended cutbacks in school transport (€25m), Departmental administrative staff (€5m) teacher training and funding for education centres (€12m), Senior Traveller Training (€25m), capitation grants (€10m), as well as increase in the staffing schedule for non fee paying schools (€50m) and an adjustment in staffing efficiencies in the primary/post-primary sectors (€150m).Meanwhile, VEC member and chairman of Westmeath Adult Education Board, Cllr. Mick Dollard, has told the Westmeath Examiner that proposed cuts to traveller training have been pre-empted in Mullingar by a VEC decision to turn the town's Senior Traveller Training Centre into a comprehensive Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS), open to all.Cllr. Dollard said that the Senior Traveller Training Centre at O'Growney Drive, Mullingar "will not continue as it is", allowing traveller training accommodation to "take place within a normal setting".In what he described as "a very positive move", Cllr. Dollard said that the VEC training centre at Austin Friars' Street, Mullingar will close in November, with its training programmes relocated to O'Growney Drive and the VEC headquarters at Marlinstown.