Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

The Government is engaging specifically in breaching a promise by refusing to do that. I understand that provision was written into the programme for Government at the express demand of the Green Party. It is disappointing that none of the three Green Party Ministers has addressed this motion. It is clear that never in history has a party prostituted itself as cheaply as the Green Party, or sold out so much and made so many promises and delivered so few.

I would like to address the OECD report on public sector reform, which is interesting. It deals at length with public sector reform. This is a good example of it. The rigidity that works in school systems is making education almost impossible. Where a requirement of 21 hours must be met to allow the allocation of a fully qualified teacher for children with special needs, it cannot be met if the number of hours is only 20 and the school cannot be allocated that teacher. Similarly, in a case where an additional teacher will be allocated in a school where the pupil-teacher ratio is 26:1, it cannot be the case that an additional teacher will not be allocated if the pupil-teacher ratio falls to 25:1. Some of the proposals made by the OECD need to be adopted and schools, principals and boards of management need to be given much more autonomy in managing their budgets. Such rigidity from the Department cannot be imposed on schools as if we were living in Soviet times. Schools must be allowed to manage their budgets better.

Fundamentally this issue is about money and choices. The amount involved is €1.4 million, which is not a great deal of money. The Government should consider its choices. Instead of spending that amount, it is deciding to give 35 Ministers pay increases which will cost €1.05 million. It is proposing to spend €2 million on climate change advertisements, which some Members may have seen on television carrying the message, "change the world, this is your world" or something like that. The Government has chosen to spend €8 million on a secondary school site and €3 million on a primary school site both in my constituency, which it could have got for free in the same way it could get open space for free if it were to change the planning laws. It is spending €3 million on a Transport 21 advertising campaign to tell us that it is spending many billions on Transport 21 — that is just great. We have already shown how the Government could save €50 million by reforming State agencies. The Ministers opposite have 100 civil servants working in their constituency offices. If they gave up the equivalent of a half a civil servant that would be all they would have to do to save the loss of these teachers.

A fundamental issue I should address as the spokesperson for enterprise, trade and employment is that of the economy. We are entering a different phase of economic development and to survive in these new and changing times two areas on which we cannot cut back are infrastructure and education. If the Government penny pinches with education to the extent that it will not deliver €1.4 million, a tiny amount of money, the cost of that further down the line will be phenomenal. The jobs that will exist here in ten or 15 years will be skilled ones. We cannot afford to have a country in which all our citizens, including our children, are not educated and do not have qualifications. That is really what this motion is about.

I commend it to the House. I hope the Fianna Fáil Deputies, including the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan will vote in favour on it. This is not simply about cutting back in terms of a little money, it is fundamentally about our economic future. It is important that is understood. Cutbacks in education will cost us much more in ten or 15 years' time.

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