Minister refuses to confirm cost of VEC move: Cowen
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has refused to confirm what moving Tullamore VEC operations to its new headquarters in Portlaoise will cost the taxpayer according to local TD Barry Cowen. Deputy Cowen said he still doesn't understand the decision to locate a new Laois-Offaly VEC in a Portlaoise facility that he sees as less suitable and equipped as the current VEC Offaly headquarters in Tullamore. He has vowed to press the issue further with Minister Quinn in order to get a "proper explanation". "People are struggling to understand why the decision was made to abandon the new VEC facility in Tullamore after hundreds of thousands of euro was spent on it, and locate the new headquarters in Portlaoise in a building that's older, smaller and less well equipped," Deputy Cowen said. Tullamore VEC building is currently just four years into a 20-year lease and has been fit out to a high standard at an estimated cost of €636,000. Yearly rental costs for the facility are €122,000. "It is a state-of-the-art building that is fully equipped to facilitate the new amalgamated VEC for Laois-Offaly," Deputy Cowen said. "So why then did the Government choose to move from this location into a less suitable facility, at considerable cost to the taxpayer? "The rent alone on the Tullamore building over the next 16 year is nearly €2m," Deputy Cowen continued. "As the VEC is locked into this lease for the next 16 years, why aren't we making proper use of this facility and avoiding the massive extra expense of locating the amalgamated VEC in Portlaoise? The only reason I can see for the chosen location of amalgamated VECs is proximity to a local Labour TD or Senator." Deputy Cowen challenged Minister Quinn on the subject at an Oireachtas Education Committee meeting last Wednesday, January 25 and said in the face of that challenge Minister Quinn "failed to provide a plausible explanation". "This is not good enough," Deputy Cowen said. "If his reason for amalgamating VECs is to save money and make the sector more efficient, I simply cannot understand why the Government has taken the significantly more expensive route in the case of Laois-Offaly.