Tag Archive for Donegal VEC

Appointment of contractor for Donegal’s Finn Valley College

April 28, 2010 Donegal News & Sport, Irish News & Sport No comments

Tanaiste Mary Coughlan

The Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan T.D., has today announced that a contractor has been appointed to begin work on the new Finn Valley College in Stranorlar.
 
The new school will consist of almost 3,500 square metres, on a site which is owned by the VEC in Drumboe. It will include numerous classrooms, two inter-connected lecture rooms, specialist rooms, ancillary accommodation and a physical education hall designed to cater for 325 students.

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Lift embargo on recruitment

March 22, 2010 Donegal News & Sport No comments
Gráinne Mhic Géidigh

Gráinne Mhic Géidigh

Measures should be implemented now to avoid student grant chaos within VECs and County Councils.  Lift the embargo on recruitment in Donegal County Council and in VEC. 

These were the demands this week from Sinn Féin’s Gráinne Mhic Géidigh who is a member of Bord Údarás na Gaeltachta. Gráinne was calling for the necessary actions to be taken now so as to avoid last year’s chaos within VECs and County Councils in processing student grants applications.

Gráinne Mhic Géidigh said
“Students who applied last year for grants are only getting sorted out now, in this month of March 2010 even though they had their applications in on time last year.  The staff in Donegal County Council and the VEC were so overwhelmed with thousands upon thousands of grant applications to be processed that they had to close their offices to deal with them.  The existing embargo on recruitment needs to be lifted to prevent the same chaos from happening again this year.

“Students have completed their Mock Leaving Certificate 2010 now and most of them have an idea of whether they intend to go to college or otherwise.  The application forms should be made available as soon as possible so as to give parents the chance to have the necessary documentation ready.  Now is the time, not in June and not in September when the students are leaving for college.  Early applications would help the processing procedures within Council and VEC offices and would ensure that parents and students could supply all the necessary documentation at the appropriate time.  All that would be needed then would be confirmation of course from college.

“Huge hardships were suffered by students and parents last year, hardships which were completely avoidable and unnecessary.  Because students were not registered as they awaited their grants to be allocated, child benefit payments were withheld, Family Income Supplement payments were withheld and Lone parent payments were withheld, this had a huge detrimental impact on parents and families as well as the students.  Due to the delay in processing grants many students were defaulting on rent, many were unable to purchase vital college books.  Students could not avail of the college services because they were not registered, they couldn’t take books from the library, they didn’t have student cards and they had to contend with the threat of late registration fines.

“These are not the kind of experiences that parents and students expect to have to deal with at a time when major changes are happening within families and young people are leaving home possibly for the first time.  The staff at the third level grants departments within Donegal County Council and the Donegal VEC were seriously overburdened and we must ensure that there is no repeat of 2009.

“Surely lessons must be learned from last year’s fiasco.  It’s simple, lift the embargo on recruitment, get the necessary staff, get the forms out to parents /students early and get the applications in.”

Donegal students could drop out due to Irish grant delays

November 5, 2009 Donegal News & Sport No comments
Donegal's Deputy Dinny McGinley

Donegal's Deputy Dinny McGinley

Hundreds of third level Donegal students are facing long delays of up to four months in the processing of their applications for third level grants and many are in danger of dropping out, Donegal Fine Gael Deputy Dinny McGinley said today.

These delays are completely unacceptable and the danger of students dropping out or being thrown out is increasing daily. There has been a huge increase in the number of applications for maintenance grants.

During one week in July there were almost 1,400 applications received by Donegal VEC. The Department must bear full responsibility for the mayhem they have created. First of all, application forms were not sent out this year until the end of June, whereas last year they were distributed in the month of February.

The embargo on the appointment of staff or the replacement of staff on leave is also causing huge difficulties and delays. The existing VEC staff are unable to deal with the huge demand. The fact that many students will have to wait until 2010 to receive their grant is a farce.

Many can simply not afford to wait four months to get the grant and some may already be obliged to drop out, due to inability to pay rent, buy books and finance the cost of staying in college.

“I am asking the Minister and the Department to give the VEC the necessary resources to expedite the processing of these applications so that students can continue their studies without the threat of having to abandon their courses.”

Donegal VEC Chief O’Longain to retire

September 2, 2009 Donegal News & Sport One comment
CEO of Donegal VEC Sean O'Longain is set to retire at the end of November

CEO of Donegal VEC Sean O'Longain is set to retire at the end of November

The CEO of Donegal VEC, Sean O’Longain is to step down from his position at the end of November, after he announced his retirement.

The Mayo native is one of the county’s longest serving public servants and has worked with Donegal VEC (Vocational Education Committee) for the last 34 years.

A big man with a big presence, he oversaw the development of many new schools in the county under the VEC portfolio and is credited with many innovations in Irish Education, in Donegal and the North West.

With the current pay freeze on Public service recruitment members of Donegal VEC are hoping that government will give approval for the recruitment of a replacement.

Glowing tributes have already been paid to the man that has overseen much of the last generation of education in the county.

County Donegal Vocational Education Committee is one of the largest of the 33 Vocational Education Committees in the country.

The Committee’s educational remit extends from Malin in the North of the County to Bundoran in the South, Arranmore and Tory Islands in the West and Carrick in the South West to Raphoe in the East of the County.

The County itself is unique in that it is bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the east by Counties Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh and to the South by County Leitrim with a border to the State of only 20 kilometers.

The Committee provides a wide range of educational services throughout Donegal.

The services range from providing full-time education in 15 Post Primary Schools/Colleges, the Outdoor Education Centre at Gartan , Churchill, six dedicated Adult Education & Training Centres located throughout the County, a Senior Traveller and Training Centre in Letterkenny and part-time provision for adults in numerous schools and community based centres. In addition, the Committee, through its Youth Services Programme, supports voluntary Youth Groups, Local Youth Projects and Youth Services to provide education, developmental and recreational programmes for young people.