Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion, which was put forward by my party. I particularly wish to focus on the sensible proposal for a substantial programme of school building. The opportunity that exists to concentrate on a substantial school building programme that will absorb some of the unfortunate spare capacity in the house building sector. The CSO figures for employment in construction are down 11% year on year and there is a tangible difference in the number of planning applications in my own constituency of Dublin South Central. A number of my constituents have asked me if I know of any major projects that are about to begin in the constituency on which they might gain employment. Unfortunately, when I talk to them about the proposed Luas E line, I have to tell them that we are talking about years, rather than weeks or months, and there is no funding pledged.

There is also a significant lack of school infrastructure and despite what the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, told us last night when he trotted out the usual Government response about investment, our schools are facing serious situations where parents are queueing in September to get their children enrolled the following year. I know of teachers taking special needs classes in the corridor. I know of home school liaison officers who are doing their very best to deal with very sensitive issues in a shared space. It is unfair to the officer and very unfair to the children. It is true that there is more investment in schools, but we started out from a very low base and we have a rapidly expanding population of school going age.

I am also aware of the problems facing universities. These are forced to depend more and more for their funding on corporate subscriptions. In effect, this is taking us away from the idea of the classical university and Deputy Higgins would certainly agree with me on that point. I am very aware of the many schools that have been left behind in my own constituency, due to the Government's education policy. The management, staff and parents of Inchicore national school were given promises in 2001. They fulfilled their part of the bargain by joining the boys and girls schools together, but they are still waiting for that funding to be put in place. It is unfair to the teachers, the pupils and the parents. It is unfair to the whole community. I am meeting with representatives of Loreto College in Crumlin about the lack of a sports hall for which they applied years ago. Once again, there is no commitment and the Minister has not given us any idea if these projects will begin, not to mind when.

I welcome today's report from the ESRI, which stated that the fundamentals of the economy remain resilient. However, we are told to watch out for the next two to three years. The warning by the ESRI that society could miss the opportunity to plan for a better future in the next decade is very pertinent to this motion. The Government must seize the initiative and push the school building agenda to the forefront of the economy. The benefits of this are clear. Our children would have better facilities. We would help promote the knowledge economy for the next generation. We would also create employment for the construction workers who have been left jobless by the downturn in the economy. In the meantime, we should put in place a programme for upskilling and retraining of those people who are not out of jobs, particularly in the construction industry. Such investment would also help to stimulate the economy and we could show that politicians in this country have some vision and are able to make an investment which would pay dividends for years to come.

Deputy Higgins last night spoke about our health service being an illness industry for clients, rather than a health service for treating patients. Once again, I have more than enough examples in my own constituency of where the whole health system is falling apart. The short-sighted decision to close down respite care in Cherry Orchard was finally reversed and we welcome that move. However, the issue of physiotherapy students was raised this morning in the Dáil. There is a crying need for physiotherapists. Physiotherapy graduates are coming out of colleges but there are no jobs for them, despite all the promises.

See this speech in context