Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I support the Labour Party motion concerning the cuts to the education system. I ask the Minister to reverse his decision to increase class sizes at first and second level. This budget will possibly go down in history as the worst ever. It is a vicious attack on those over 70, our schoolchildren, the old, the vulnerable and other citizens of this country. Let us not get too confused here. People are saying the budget was rushed, ham-fisted and ill thought out. In fact, this budget was show time once again. There are spin-doctors, wizards and spooks out there who are monitoring what I am saying. They orchestrated the general elections in 2002 and 2007 and every budget in between. It was show time for them. As in the general elections, there were the chorus, the lead singers, the orchestra, the comperes and the cheerleaders. There were also the vested interests. In previous budgets we have had everybody texting around the country telling us how good the budget was going to be. Indeed, there was a standing ovation from the members of the Government. What they could not hide, however, was that there was no substance to this budget and that the devil was in the detail. The fiasco of medical cards for the over 70s resulted in a protest outside the Dáil by 15,000 brave citizens who saw through the smoke and mirrors. We had the students, the farmers and many more, and now the principals, teachers, students and parents are protesting again.

There is a list of 32 education cutbacks in budget 2009. I could read them into the record but they have already been read. However, I will mention a few, including the reduction in school building programmes. In Ballinamore in my constituency of Roscommon-South Leitrim, we had nine public meetings attended by more than 300 people. The Minister promised that a school would be delivered in Ballinamore and I expect him to keep that promise. In addition, the grants for school choirs and orchestras have been abolished, as have the early child care centres, and there has been a radical increase in school transport costs. As spokesperson on school transport, I feel this is anti-family and anti-rural. The Minister of State, Deputy Seán Haughey, lives in the constituency of Dublin North-Central which has had its difficulties, certainly in terms of educational challenges, but not when it comes to provision of school transport. Most of the students live within 2.2 kilometres of the school and they have footpaths, cycle lanes, walkways and a good public transport system available to them but that is not necessarily the case in rural Ireland. A total of 140,000 children avail of school transport each day. The cost of school transport for junior cycle students last Easter was €99 per student. That has increased to €300 in less than six months. It now costs parents of two junior cycle students €600, which is an increase of over 203%.

Where were the Green Party Members on this occasion? I welcome the provision of tax relief on the purchase of a bicycle but it is of no use to school children. Parents who have their own transport are not affected but parents with two children who do not have their own transport, and who may have to walk a mile to get to public transport, must pay €600 for those two children. The Green Party wants to take cars off the road but it is now cheaper to drive one's children to school than it is to avail of public transport. That goes against all the policies of Sustainable Ireland and it must be reversed.

See this speech in context