Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

Every time there is an announcement, it involves a five-year plan or a ten-year plan. I cannot understand this.

The Minister for Finance has drawn up another plan for third and fourth level education, which I welcome. However, the Government should focus on primary and secondary education in the first instance. I presume it drew up a plan for those sectors years ago but it has not been completed yet.

In the context of education, I wish to focus on two specific schools. The first is Gorey community school, which is totally overcrowded, with 1,500 students under one roof. The safety standards are so low they are horrifying. The principal is in absolute turmoil. More Fianna Fáil Ministers have visited the school than I have had hot dinners. The second school is the gaelscoil in Enniscorthy. The most recent announcement for that school was the allocation of eight brand new prefabricated classrooms. No doubt, they will be left there for another 20 years, until they are dilapidated and in disrepair.

This budget has not been so perfect for this Government. I welcome certain elements of it, for example, the provisions for younger farmers. However, there are fewer younger farmers now than in the past. They are not opting to go on to the land because the Government has made it very difficult for them. Young farmers see there is no living to be made from farming.

I welcome the reduction in excise duty on kerosene but the Minister of Finance forgot about the hauliers, who are paying over the odds for diesel. We are totally dependent on roads for freight transport because the Government has not invested sufficiently in the rail infrastructure. The cost of road transport has gone through the roof. In that context, I reiterate that this is not such a good budget.

Almost every Deputy on this side of the House has mentioned decentralisation but it is notable that none of the Government Deputies has done so. Deputy Dermot Ahern referred to it in his written script, but he scrapped the script and chose to ad-lib instead. I do not blame him for doing that. Under the decentralisation programme, 85 jobs were earmarked for Enniscorthy, 130 for New Ross and 325 for Wexford town. There was great fanfare in 2003 when decentralisation was announced. There was such a rush out through the door of the House, I thought the Government Deputies were going to bring it and the walls down with them. They dashed out to speak to their local radio stations and newspapers and there was great fanfare. Senior Fianna Fáil members told people in Wexford that the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, An Bord Glas and Bord Bia would be located in Enniscorthy, but there is no site.

See this speech in context