VEC impasse solved as Coyle resigns seat

VEC impasse to be resolved


Edwin McGreal

The protracted impasse over the replacement of Cllr Noreen Heston on the Mayo Vocational Education Committee (VEC) looks set to be resolved after her party, Fine Gael, came up with a solution to solve the gender balance issue which was at the heart of the conflict.
A sitting member of Mayo VEC, Cllr Gerry Coyle, is to resign his seat and be replaced by Cllr Michelle Mulherin. That will enable former Castlebar town councillor Kevin Guthrie to take the seat left vacant by Castlebar Town Councillor Noreen Heston while the gender ratio on the body will remain unaltered.
Cllr Heston had resigned her seat earlier this year, stating that the VEC is ‘overly politicised’ and it was believed that she had hoped that Tony Deffley, a Labour member and former VEC member, would be able to replace her.
Cllr Heston had, controversially, earlier voted for Deffley against Fine Gael’s Paddy Naughton, defying the party whip. In any event Naughton was elected.
However, after the resignation of Cllr Heston, there was further drama when CEO of Mayo VEC, Dr Katie Sweeney, indicated that Cllr Heston’s replacement would have to be a woman to ensure the body’s gender balance requirement was met. Dr Sweeney stated that the VEC would not be ‘legally constituted’ if Cllr Heston was replaced by a man.
However Castlebar Town Council, the body who appointed Heston in the first place and therefore had control over the selection of her replacement, felt that Dr Sweeney’s concerns, and those of council solicitor Michael Browne, were ill-founded and all nine town councillors voted for a male replacement.
Five of the councillors voted for Kevin Guthrie, a former Fine Gael councillor, with the remaining four voting for Tony Deffley. Again, Cllr Heston voted against the party and backed Deffley.
However, despite Guthrie’s selection by Castlebar Town Council, Dr Katie Sweeney didn’t accept the legitimacy of his selection and last Thursday’s meeting of the VEC was postponed.
However, on the same evening, members of Fine Gael in the county met and the decision of Gerry Coyle to resign his seat for Michelle Mulherin has left the door open for Kevin Guthrie to take Cllr Heston’s place.