The Save Donegal Education Centre committee is to organise a public protest as the next step in its efforts to stop the service moving to Letterkenny.
Local TDs and Senators are also to meet with Education Minister Helen McEntee this week to discuss the issue.
Clarity around the upcoming AGM is also to be raised.
It is due to be completed within the next 10 days; however, notification of the event has yet to be issued.
Committee member Cllr Jimmy Brogan outlines what is to be discussed with the Minister, namely claims made in relation to a lack of consultation, contradicting a statement released by the full management committee last week:
Statement in full:
Following the very successful public meeting, which was held in the Abbey Hotel last Thursday, the Save Donegal Education Centre committee met to discuss what will happen next in the efforts to keep the centre in Donegal Town. The staff have expressed their extreme gratitude to all the people who came out to the public meeting to support them and the business community in Donegal Town. Local T.D.s and Senators from Donegal have requested a meeting with the Minister for Education, Helen McEntee, which will take place this week to discuss the issues with the centre. They will discuss the poor governance by the management committee, highlight how the staff have been treated through the process of the proposed move and discuss the fact that members of the Donegal Education Centre (teachers both present and retired) have not been notified of when the A.G.M. will take place. The A.G.M. must take place before 28th February in accordance with the constitution of the D.E.C. A statement from the management committee was released last Friday, the contains of which have been strongly refuted by staff of the centre but the very important issue of the A.G.M was not addressed.
Teacher members of the local committee will meet with local branches of the National Teachers Organization (INTO), the Association of Secondary Teachers (ASTI) and local branches of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), to seek their support as this closure and relocation is being carried out in the name of all their members in Co Donegal, without consultation.
It was decided that a public protest will now be organised to take place next week, against the relocation of Donegal Education Centre out of Donegal Town to the Mountain top in Letterkenny and arrangements for the protest will be announced in the coming days. It is hoped that the Minister will call a halt to this move and instruct the Management Committee to hold the A.G.M. as soon as possible in accordance with the rules of the D.E.C. The refusal of the management committee to call an A.G.M. is an affront to the democratic rules of the education centre. The current committee have no mandate to proceed with this move because it was never on the agenda at any A.G.M. nor does it appear in the minutes, therefore was never even discussed with the members and should not continue until the members get the opportunity to air their views at an A.G.M. Other actions are planned on a weekly basis and a further public meeting will be held to keep everyone informed. Further details of the public protest will follow as soon as arrangements are made.
