Department of Education petitioned by employees to make VEC accountable

Delay & Obstruction 

A former employee of Co Cork VEC has finally had enough of obfuscation and delay in her quest for justice against the authority. Ann Hurley has been seeking acknowledgement and redress over several years to no avail. She is now taking her case to the Supreme Court.  Ann Hurley is not alone.

Department of Education & Skills, Dublin

Widespread Problems with Management 

* CCVEC has not yet explained why, for instance, approximately 85 of its 90+ Youthreach service teachers were issued no contracts of employment over several years or why, year after year, many teachers personnel records were lost.  

*Why were teaching staff underpaid or refused pay grades they were entitled to?

*CCVEC also single-handedly and inexplicably halted the full establishment of the national Teaching Council by refusing to submit proper records of its teachers.  Did CCVEC not want its teachers to have the right to belong to the Teaching Council or did it simply not have the necessary records of its own staff - and if not, why not?  Interestingly, the current acting CEO of Co Cork VEC, Ms Joan Russell, has now been appointed to the Teaching Council herself - where an impressive profile of her sphere of interests can be found - somewhat belying the realities described here. 

*Can the VEC explain why an employee had more than one PRSI number - and can it account for how payments were passed through both?

* Why, several years after a ruling in his favour at an employment tribunal is one employee still waiting to be paid what was due to him?  Why has the same employee been systematically disadvantaged since that ruling and why is the department not addressing this?

There are many more questions besides these requiring answers.

Ann Hurley is asking for support via a recently established petition calling on the Department of Education to investigate and resolve all outstanding disputes between CCVEC and its employees.  You can sign the petition to hold County Cork VEC accountable here.

This should be a matter of concern to all VEC staff and teachers - if one authority can apparently evade answering these questions with impunity, how many others may be behaving in a similar way?  The VEC sector is not covered by Freedom of Information legislation, an oversight which is being exploited to the full in certain cases.

Context

There had been hope that the new government would finally secure some accountability from CCVEC for its treatment of its employees. However, the reality for those affected has proved disappointing so far.  The difficulties with CCVEC relate primarily to a period when the former CEO  Mr Barry O' Brien and his colleague Ms Joan Russell, Education Officer and loyal lieutenant for the latter part of his tenure, were among those managing the VEC.  Ms Russell succeeded Mr O' Brien as Acting CEO on the latter's retirement.  There is some doubt whether she will continue in this position, however.  Ms Russell was before the Public Accounts Committee earlier this year answering questions about Mr O' Brien's mismanagement of a substantial sum of money borrowed without the knowledge of the Department of Education and used to set up a commercial enterprise at Glanmire College on the outskirts of Cork city - which subsequently failed.

Among a number of anomalies that were revealed about the arrangement (gamely described as 'innovative' by Ms Russell), the Comptroller and Auditor General has confirmed that the money could not be recovered and that the contract establishing the arrangement 'was inadequate to reveal the other party to it'.  As a sitting member of the PAC, Mary Lou MacDonald described Ms Russell's submission to the committee in defence of this 'contract' as 'brazen'.  The C&AG's conclusions about the Glanmire situation published in September 2010 are quoted below -:

Comptroller and Auditor General's Conclusions

"This project has resulted in a net costs to CCVEC of €161,990. The project was not completed and full value was not achieved for this expenditure.

The processes employed were defective in that

􀂃 while acknowledging that the project was a pilot, the IT equipment was sourced by the company and, thereby, procured outside public sector norms

􀂃 neither the approval of the Committee nor the sanction of the Minister were sought for the entering into a lease with a financial institution

􀂃 a considerable portion of the financial risk for a developmental project rested mainly with CCVEC while copyright over all software and documentation would belong to the company

􀂃 notwithstanding substantial day to day interaction during the development phase, CCVEC found that the contract was inadequate to identify the party with which business was being effected and thereby led to enforceability issues

􀂃 notwithstanding the fact that it concluded a finance lease arrangement to fund the acquisition of equipment and services the CCVEC was unable to identify the recipient of the funds paid by the financial institution with whom it entered up the lease."

(Author's emphasis) Surely, these events were a matter for the Gardai to investigate?
  
Accountability Now

It is long past time for the Department of Education to take this situation in hand and be seen to do the right thing. What is needed is a full, fair, open and thoroughly independent investigation. Why, given all the disturbing complaints and evidence that have been presented to the department, does it continue to refuse this?

Here is that petition again - please do sign it. Click on link below

Sign the petition here to hold County Cork VEC accountable