Final meeting of Clare VEC after 83 years

THIS Thursday’s meeting of County Clare Vocational Education ­Committee will be its last after 83 years.
It is being subsumed on July 1 into ­Limerick and Clare Education and ­Training Board (LCETB).

This body will also ­subsume Limerick City and County Vocational ­Education Committees as the Government reduces the country’s 33 committees into 16 new entities.

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn, has confirmed July 1 as the establishment date for LCETB, when statutory functions of the Clare committee will transfer to the new body.

The first meeting of the Clare committee was held on November 8, 1930, and from its inception has provided a first-class ­education service to the people of Clare.

“The committee has grown and expanded over the 83 years of its existence and has become an important part of both the education and social fabric of the county,” chief executive officer, George O’Callaghan, said in advance of the final meeting. He is due to fill the same role in the LCETB.

Attendance at the first county committee meeting in 1930, as recorded by the minutes, consisted of Dean McInerney, PP, VG, who was elected chairman; Rev W Scanlan, PP; Rev M J Crowe, CC; Rev PJ Vaughan, Br Flannery, Br O’Brien, T Hannon, P Burke, S O’Grady, J O’Dwyer, T McGrath, TG Burke, all members of Clare County Council; JF Collins, TP Ashe, NT; J O’Regan and S Malone.