No savings from VEC cuts ‘for years’

THE property market and the need for legal changes mean most of the estimated €3 million in annual savings from halving the number of Vocational Education Committees (VECs) might not be reaped for a number of years.

In 2009, the Bord Snip Nua report claimed reducing the number of VECs from 33 to 22 could save €3m a year.

But the previous government cut them to 16, with the necessary legal changes expected to be passed in the first half of 2012.