Dáil debates

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

Special Educational Needs: Motion (Resumed)

 

6:00 pm

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

I am puzzled by this debate. I come to it not as a natural protester or one who speaks from the backs of lorries. Today was the first time this happened to me. I do not come here as one who allies naturally with Deputies Higgins, Boyd Barrett and others, yet I believe what the Government has been saying is extraordinary. I echo the words of Deputy Flanagan in saying nobody has been manipulating those who tabled this motion. It is not what is called a political football.

I, who am new to public lobbying of this sort because I come from the rarefied area of the Seanad, had a number of people contacting me spontaneously about this issue. There is no doubt that they came to me because they were sore, felt betrayed and were emotional and in need. They did not just come from my constituency but from all over Ireland. They came today from all over Ireland. The suggestion this is some sort of fantasy manipulated by others is utterly wrong.

I sympathise with the Government in the fact that it must make cuts. Of course that is its philosophy and of course it must make cuts, but the motion is a political football in the sense that one must make choices, as stated by a member of the Labour Party. The Government's choice is to make cuts in the area of special needs.

The Government line is that its financial difficulties are inherited from the previous Government and the constraints are imposed by the IMF and European Union. That is unadulterated rubbish because the Government proudly went back to the European Union and said it had a jobs initiative and was able to effect change in minor ways. This is very small in terms of the IMF-EU package. There is no doubt that the Government could have returned to the IMF and European Union when it was renegotiating the deal, as it said it did, and stated its priority was not only jobs but also vulnerable children. It could have demanded that the required €10 million, €20 million or even €40 million be taken from somewhere else. The IMF would have asked where the Government wanted the money to go. Constructive suggestions would have been made on where cuts could have been made. If the Government had said it wanted to cut 1% of the FÁS budget and secured that cut, the savings would have paid for the special needs assistants. However, it did not. Instead, it says it will live with this because it can blame Fianna Fáil for it. Of course it can blame Fianna Fáil for it but it has inherited this mantle and accepted it and it is running with it. The Government could cut back in other areas such as the EPA. Every week there is public waste, and the EPA was exposed at the weekend by a newspaper with which I have an association. There has been spending galore on unnecessary things. Why can the Government not cut back on this? The subvention given to CIE is unexplained; there is no transparency.

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