New Boards of Management

At it's February meeting Co. Louth VEC elected new boards of management for all of its schools and centres including O’Fiaich College in Dundalk, Bush Post-primary School in Riverstown, St. Oliver’s Community College in Drogheda, Drogheda Institute of Further Education and Scoil Uí Mhuirí in Dunleer. New boards were also elected for Drogheda and Dundalk Youthreach centres and for Tara Education Centre. Each new board comprises of members of the VEC, staff and parent representatives and local community/industry representatives. The term of office for the eight new boards runs until the end of September 2012.

The following people were elected to the board of management of O’Fiaich College – Bernard Devlin, Cllr. Terry Brennan, Cllr. Jim Ryan, Gary Gilligan, Phil O’Connor, Teresa Lawlor, Ann Duffy, Declan Ward, Eamon Kinch and Nuala Donnelly.

The new board of Bush Post-primary School comprises of Bernard Murnaghan, Úna Kirk, Cllr. Jim Ryan, Cllr. Terry Brennan, Joe Corcoran, Sineád McDonnell, Brendan Thompson, Patricia McCann, Liam Woods, Rev. Fr. McParland and Aindreas O’Donnell.

The following people were elected to the board of Scoil Uí Mhuirí in Dunleer – Bernard Devlin, Cllr. Tomás Sharkey, Cllr. Liam Reilly, Cllr. Oliver Tully, Therese Clinton, Alan Hurley, Eranda Langeveldt, John Hand, Thomas Clare and Richard McGeough.

The following people were elected to the board of St. Oliver’s Community College – Audrey O’Dowd, Cllr. Declan Breathnach, Cllr. Anthony Donohoe, John Healy, Christine Kiernan, Trina Cunningham, Martina Hansberry, Michael McCormick and Teresa Healy.

The new board of Drogheda Institute of Further Education comprises the following people – Cllr. Gerald Nash, Cllr. Martin Bellew, Cllr. Oliver Tully, Cllr. Liam Reilly, Martin Spain, Joanne Nolan, Jill Birch, Ann Cleary, Edward McGovern, Vincent Black and Jimmy Mulroy.

The following people were elected to the board of Drogheda Youthreach – Cllr. Declan Breathnach, Ciarán O’Donnell, Clare Shanks, Mary Byrne, Janice Ryan, Caroline O’Neill, Hugh Doogan, Marion Horan and Patrick Kelly.

The new board of Dundalk Youthreach comprises Cllr. Marianne Butler, Cllr. Liam Reilly, Bernard Murnaghan, Cllr. Terry Brennan, Kieran Clarke, Marian Murphy, John Brady, Niall Weldon, Harry Traynor, Maria Kiernan and Colin Ryan.

The new board of Tara Education Centre comprises Audrey Dorian, Cllr. Martin Bellew, Cllr Tomás Sharkey, Úna Kirk, Yvonne Wynne, Margaret Ward, Catherine Vaughan, Seán Roche, Peter Nolan, Bill Tosh, Bernard Murnaghan, Susan Keogh and Eileen Lynch.

Speaking at the VEC meeting Dr. Pádraig Kirk, CEO of Co. Louth VEC paid tribute to each of the outgoing boards of management and thanked them, on behalf of all the staff and students of the VEC, for their excellent stewardship during their term of office. Dr. Kirk also welcomed the eight new boards into the VEC and wished them well in their managerial role. “The level of voluntary commitment freely given by board of management members needs to be recognised” he said, “a certain responsibility comes with the role and each and every board member is congratulated for lending their expertise and for playing their part in their community”.

The VEC have provided training for all of its board of management members. Under the terms of the Education Act (1998) it is a statutory obligation for all schools to have boards of management in place.