To this end the VECs were charged with the duty of setting up and maintaining vocational schools.
In addition, a VEC was formed in those municipal boroughs and urban districts which had a separate Technical Instruction Committee under the 1899 legislation (namely Bray, Drogheda, Sligo, Tralee and Wexford) and in the newly created Borough of Dún Laoghaire.
The number of VECs was reduced to the final number of thirty-three when five town committees were amalgamated with the adjacent county committees, leaving Dún Laoghaire as the only VEC area not consisting of a city or county.
Each Vocational Education Committee was elected by the county, borough or urban district council and consisted partly of councillors and partly of persons with an "interest and experience in education" and who could be recommended by bodies "interested in manufacture or trades".
[6] In October 2010 the Department of Education announced that the number of VECs was to be reduced from 33 to 16 by amalgamation[12][13] In 2011 the new government confirmed that scale of reduction but revised the scheme of amalgamations[14] It subsequently announced the establishment of SOLAS, a new steering and funding agency to cover the further education provision of the VECs, which also absorbed the training activities formerly carried out by FÁS.