Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on the Education (Resource Allocation) Bill 2012. I welcome the Bill and the debate on the broader issues of the importance of education and the allocation of educational resources. We all accept that we have a huge problem in the State at this time. The allocation and distribution of resources needs to be well managed and accounted for in the interests of the citizens of this State. That is the current situation. That is where we are all at. We are all on the same page. That is where we need to begin our consideration of this legislation. Priority has to be given to the most needy. We need to assess the impact and the results of our expenditure in order to inform our future spending plans. There can be no beating around the bush. That is why I think this legislation is progressive. I commend Deputy McConalogue on bringing it before the Dáil this afternoon.

I would like to express my sadness and disappointment at the lack of major participation in the debate on the part of the Minister for Education and Skills and other Deputies who profess to be very interested in education. I appreciate that the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, is in attendance. My constituency colleague, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, used to rant and rave about education before he was elected. Now that he has a chance to contribute to an important education debate, he is not even in the House. I would like to know where he is hiding out this Friday lunchtime.

I appreciate that the Acting Chairman would like me to stay within the Standing Orders of the House, so I will return to the Bill before us today. One of my priorities is to tackle educational disadvantage. I am also keen to help children with disabilities. That is what I stood for and that is the mandate I was given by the electorate. I will continue to fight for that. We need reform in education. It is absolute madness to cut and dismantle educational services that have a proven track record of working. I could give many examples of good practice in this area. We need to build on what is working in the best interests of children and students, rather than destroying the system, and do so before it is too late.

I will give a practical example. I used to work as the principal of a disadvantaged primary school in the north inner city. We participated in the Breaking the Cycle project, which was developed at the start of the move towards the DEIS initiative. I will mention two features of the project. We had to account for every cent of the extra funding we received for disadvantage. We had to spend the money wisely. It was checked, verified and accounted for on a regular basis. I was absolutely amazed by the radical reforms that were achieved as a result of the project, under the leadership and guidance of Ms Maura Grant in the then Department of Education. She played a tremendous role in this regard. She gave a great lift to funding, reform, management and accountability in the 30 poorest schools in the country.

When the banking crisis emerged in this State at a later stage on foot of the mistakes of the regulators and such people, it struck me that the 33 most disadvantaged schools in the country had been able to account for every euro they received from the State. They had been able to prove that the scheme was working. It was regularly assessed. It was proven to have had a major impact on the school. I remember the lift it gave to my staff and to the parents of children living in flats in the north inner city. This is the kind of project we should look at. When one invests money in this way, one should look for accountability and make sure there are results at the end of the year. Attendance levels at the school went through the roof. We focused on literacy because it was a major issue in the school at the time. We also made progress in maths and other subjects. The bottom line is that the scheme worked. The key thing in that context was accountability.

It is important for people who work at the front line to know what is going on. As my colleague Deputy Donnelly said recently, when one speaks to nurses, doctors, porters and others at the front line of the health service, they are immediately able to point to where reforms are needed and efficiencies can be made. Many people are interested in being true public servants. I am using that term in the most positive sense. A public servant is a servant of the public. The vast majority of public servants try to do their best in the interests of the State. We have to be able to deal with public servants who do not want to be in the public service, or who are inefficient. That must be part of the reform agenda. These points are important and relevant to the Bill before the House.

I would like to mention another issue that has arisen in my constituency recently. As I have said, I have a strong interest in disability issues. The ChildVision school on Grace Park Road in Drumcondra, Dublin 9, received a very nasty letter in the last few days to the effect that its funding will have to decrease by €250,000 as a result of the 5% cut that is required under the budget guidelines. The ChildVision organisation looks after blind and very disabled children. I often wonder where people are going when they seek substantial cuts - €250,000, in this case - from great services that are protecting vulnerable children. This cut will be on top of an €863,000 cut that has been imposed on ChildVision in recent years. It is a total disgrace. We are talking about accountability. I can guarantee that those who work for ChildVision can account for every cent they spend. I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, to examine the matter. I have already contacted the Minister, Deputy Quinn, about the issue. We need to have examples of that.

I received a letter this morning from a parent in the Donnycarney area of my constituency. It was sent by a "disappointed and concerned mother" whose seven year old son attends an outreach class for children with autism spectrum disorder at Scoil Chiaráin CBS on Collins Avenue. The woman in question has been informed that her son will not receive any in-school speech and language support during the current school term. It is not acceptable for that kind of stuff to be going on. At a time when the Government is talking about reform and change, it cannot go around hammering the weakest of the weak. I do not want to hear Ministers saying they do not have the resources to do what is needed. Resources have to be focused on those who need them most. If extra revenue needs to be raised, the Government should not be afraid to go after certain people.

I would like to pick up on a point that Deputy O'Brien made about this legislation. When we talk about the progressive things that are happening in education and the sly and nasty things that are happening in education, it is important to remember that the funding for counselling services for children in second level schools has been reduced by 51%. That is an appalling situation, especially as the rate of suicide among that age group is very high. There has also been a 21% reduction in the amount of time available for guidance and counselling services in second level schools. We are talking about people who provide an important listening ear and offer professional advice and support before matters escalate seriously.

Second level students must be suicidal or self-harming before they are prioritised for access to psychological or psychiatric services and, even at that, they sometimes have to wait. Apart from the human cost and the potential destruction of young people's lives, this costs the State more from a strictly economic point of view.

The purpose of the Bill is to put in place a system whereby the Department of Education and Skills will carry out and publish an annual education impact study which will examine the effects of the Minister's decision to reduce the annual resource allocation. That is the purpose of the legislation. The study will have to be completed in a timely fashion to allow affected schools ample time to submit appeals against such reductions. The study will have to include details of the names of schools affected and the impact the reduction will have on those schools. It must specifically include details on the effect the resource reduction will have on students and remaining staff, as well as on the general functioning of the school. The Bill also provides for a mechanism whereby the principal of each affected school can appeal the decision to reduce his or her resource allocation. The principal will be given an opportunity to set out a number of grounds on which he or she can base an appeal.

I have just outlined the bones of the legislation, which is, in my view, very progressive. It addresses issues of planning and accountability while providing school principals with the opportunity to react to resource reductions. As I have already mentioned, I was one such principal at one time and had this legislation been in place then, it would have provided me with a great opportunity. This legislation would pertain to all schools in the State but I am particularly interested in schools in disadvantaged areas, as that is my area of expertise. Many people are not aware of the good work going on in such schools where many at-risk children are prevented from getting into trouble and ending up in Mountjoy Prison. That work must be commended. Those working in disadvantaged schools are doing a fantastic job and this legislation would strengthen their hand.

Section 2 of the Bill amends the Education Act 1998 and makes provision for the principal of the affected school to submit an appeal against the decision to reduce his or her school's annual resource allocation to the inspectorate, which is very important. It allows principals to make the case for their individual schools. The section also makes provision for a review of the operation of the section within two years of the enactment of the Bill. This is all about change and reform. Members of this House, including the Government, were elected on a commitment to change and reform Irish politics following the economic downturn and the major mistakes made by the previous Administration and those involved in banking, regulation and construction. We have the mandate to do this and we should just get on with the job. This Bill is one aspect of this reform of the system.

Section 3 amends the Education Act 1998 to provide that the Minister must carry out an annual education impact study on the effects a reduction in resource allocation will have on any school. This fits in with the debate on change, reform and accountability.

This legislation gives Deputies from all sides of the House a chance to back something that is sensible and beneficial to the Irish education system. There is no need for people to veto or put down this Bill just because it comes from the Opposition, which is a difficulty I have with many of the so-called debates in this House. Many Deputies, on looking at the details of this legislation, would see that it is a common-sense Bill which addresses the issues of reform, resource allocation and accountability. It is a sensible proposal. I welcome the publication of this Bill and I will be supporting it because it strengthens education and improves accountability in the use of educational resources.

See this speech in context