Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I am amazed to hear the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs speaking as if all roads lead out of Dublin to another capital city in the country. He is a patient man and has waited 15 years into his political career to see improvements in the road from Dublin to Galway so he obviously thinks that is a reasonable timetable. He described in great detail how fantastic that road now is. When the new bypass opens at Enfield, I suggest the Minister gets off at the first roundabout to drive 18 km to Edenderry and then tell me what he thinks of the transport system.

Deputy O'Connor said that the Minister for Social and Family Affairs would revolutionise the social welfare system. He did not revolutionise the transport system in County Offaly when he was Minister for Transport. It is not what I wanted to speak about but the Minister has forced me to do so. The road from Edenderry to Enfield is a disaster. I received a puncture on it a few months ago and virtually everybody living in that area has raised the issue with all the public representatives but nothing has been done. In consideration of the Estimates we are told it is an issue for the National Roads Authority but it is an issue the Government has failed to address. It is very difficult to get responses on it in this House because I am repeatedly told it is a matter for the local authorities concerned. I advise the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, the Minister for Transport and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to drive to the first interchange at Enfield to see what the transport infrastructure is like in other parts of the country because it leaves a lot to be desired.

The Minister also talks about the largest ever reopening of our rail system but it is not reopened yet. We might be able to call it the largest ever when something happens but at present it is a promise that was only made four weeks ago. The public will be sceptical about the completion date. When he is revolutionising the rail system, the Minister might go to Tullamore and see a person in a wheelchair having wooden planks put on the track so that they can cross over to get a train to Galway or Dublin. They wait for staff at the station to bring out a piece of wood and put it across the tracks, which would be illegal for anybody else to do, and they are wheeled across the railway line. I do not think that amounts to revolutionising the railway system and if we cannot address basic issues like this, we are in serious trouble.

I want to speak principally on the Estimate for the Department of Education and Science which shows an increase of €530 million in expenditure for next year.

As this is a considerable amount of money, resources should be improved significantly in schools and colleges as a result of this expenditure. I must examine what an extra €530 million will do and where taxpayers' money will be allocated in the education system. First, the national educational and psychological service is being allocated an extra €2,000 for 2006. In real terms, when considered against inflation, this is a sharp cut precisely at a time when education spending is being increased. Allocating an additional €2,000 to NEPS is derisory, given the crucial service it provides. Already over the course of 2005, access to the service by NEPS has narrowed. At the beginning of the year, 1,522, or 46% of all primary schools in the State had no NEPS psychologist assigned to them. Last month, I discovered that this figure has increased to 1,663, or 51% of all primary schools. These figures can only increase over the coming year, with the predictable negative consequences for children.

The NEPS service is important because it undertakes vital psychological evaluations of children with special educational needs or those experiencing difficulties at school. However, access to psychological services for these children will be curtailed over the coming year. Over the course of 2006, fewer children will be assessed and fewer schools will be covered by the service. It is an economical way to do things, because if a child does not get the assessment he or she needs, the service cannot be provided for him or her afterwards. I question the Minister about her motives in that regard.

Taking into account the extra €2,000 the service has been allocated, we should move on with the remaining €529,998,000 additional expenditure. The national educational welfare board has been allocated an additional €312,000 towards its operating costs for 2006. This fractional increase in funding fails to recognise the important work of the NEWB or the fact that since its establishment, it has existed on a skeleton staff.

Under Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, the number of children failing to make the transition from primary to secondary education since 1997 has increased by 36%, now standing at more than 1,000 children per annum. The Government's report on early school leaving indicates that up to 60% of second level students in some areas leave school before the leaving certificate. It is clear that the Government is failing to tackle the problem of early school drop-out. Children who leave school early can suffer negative consequences for the rest of their lives, yet the Government continues to underfund the national educational welfare board whose responsibility it is to encourage and support regular school attendance.

The NEWB has estimated that up to 330 educational welfare officers are required so that a full service can be offered to all schools in the State. However, two years since its inception and launch, funding has been allocated for the recruitment of just 63 educational welfare officers. At the end of June this year, the NEWB had 11,653 cases on its books. This means that each welfare officer has an average of 185 cases with which to deal. One officer cannot be expected to deal effectively with 185 children and their parents in different schools in trying to get to the root causes of poor school attendance.

Children who are allowed to fall through the cracks in our education system often never again engage with formal education. The Government's response is just to allocate a small amount of additional funding, which may just about keep services at their current level, but allows for no increase. There will be no greater intervention in 2006 to help children at risk of early school leaving. NEPS and NEWB are both crucial services provided by the Department of Education and Science, yet funding for these services is at a standstill. Of the additional €530 million being allocated to the Department of Education and Science for 2006, there is still more than €529,686,000 outstanding after the tiny additional awards to these agencies. Where is the remaining money going? It is not going towards the alleviation of disadvantage at third level. It is getting just an extra €18,000 for 2006 in the Estimates as published. It is not going towards the schools building programme, which is static and receiving no increase. Neither is it going towards funding centres for young offenders, which is being cut by 8%.

In 2005, the Minister wasted €12 million of taxpayers' money on temporary accommodation because her Department had not delivered on new suitable and permanent school buildings. Next year, temporary accommodation will take another big chunk of additional funding due to the lack of planning and forward thinking in the provision of new school buildings. In our examination of the additional funding allocated to the Department, there is still more than €500 million remaining. The further education sector will see none of this.

The Government continues to fail to recognise the potential offered by the further education sector and it has not implemented any of the recommendations of the McIver report which has simply gathered dust in the Department for the past two years. Further education plays an important role, bringing educational opportunities to thousands each year in all parts of the country. A higher percentage of mature students return to education through the VEC and PLC route, gaining valuable qualifications that enable them to return to the workplace or change employment. In addition, the further education sector can devise new courses at short notice, providing training for people in business-related skills that are constantly changing and required in their communities. However, to do this properly, the sector needs greater flexibility, funding, autonomy and support, and 2006 will see none of these improvements in Government support for the further education sector.

In regard to class sizes, despite the Minister's claims to the contrary, the Estimates indicate that seriously overcrowded classrooms at primary level will continue for 2006 and beyond. The extra teaching posts announced are merely a small step in addressing the national problem of overcrowding in our schools. With more than 73,000 primary school children in classes of more than 30, and almost 5,000 children in classes of more than 35, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats are years away from making good on their 2002 election promises. Some 250 teachers for 2006 across more than 3,000 primary schools nationally is a drop in the ocean. From where will the classrooms for these teachers come?

The 2006 Estimates signal an increase in funding under the heading of other grants and services. However, this funding is spread so widely over so many important areas that I am concerned it will not be adequate. I welcome the increase in capitation fees. However, the Minister has once more ignored the issue of physical education because the amount of money provided will not allow schools without physical education facilities to develop these facilities. This funding covers everything from the provision of equipment for special education, special assistance for schools in disadvantaged areas, the grants to primary school management bodies, aids towards the education of children of migrant workers and refugees and the substance abuse programme. All these vital services have been overlooked.

I am particularly concerned about the low level of investment in the training of management boards, especially in light of the publication of the damning Ferns Report. In 2004, the total amount of money invested in primary management was the equivalent of an average investment of €13.60 per board member. School boards of management have important responsibilities to children enrolled in each school. Training is needed and should be provided in meeting these responsibilities.

I would like to refer to the youth work sector, which is understandably frustrated by the Estimates. It has resorted to describing itself as the Cinderella of the education sector. The amount of money provided this year is derisory and will not allow it to implement the youth work development plan as it had hoped. While representatives from the Department were involved in drawing up the plan, it cannot fulfil its potential without the necessary funding.

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