Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This budget is nothing more than a master-class in rhetoric and spin. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform stood in the Chamber yesterday and announced an additional spend of €458 million in education. However, outside of demographic pressures and money that has already been committed, the grim reality is the true figure for our education system, which has been ravaged by regressive and harsh cuts over the years, is €170 million. While I welcome any investment in our education system, the reality is it needs a great deal more. It is obvious that education is not deemed to be a priority by the Government.

Less than one month ago, the Minister for Education and Skills announced to much fanfare that he would create an education system that would be the best in Europe. The budget delivered yesterday makes a farce of this commitment and statement. It seems the Minister is fond of plans and reviews, and plans to carry out even more unnecessary reviews. He is the master of the glossy report that contains yet another meaningless strategy. Our education system does not need glossy reports that will gather dust on shelves in the Department of Education and Skills. We do not need an action plan, we just need action. What our education system chronically needs is investment to help it recover from the regressive cuts that have taken place over the years. It needs a Minister that will deliver.

Yesterday was a real opportunity for the Minister to lay down a marker and to put his money where his mouth is, but he failed to deliver. His partners in Fianna Fáil have stood up in the Chamber and cried crocodile tears about the school transport system, the NEPS service, school class sizes, guidance counsellors and resources for children with special needs. It seems they are content to stand over a budget that will not deliver the resources our education system so badly needs. They strut around the Chamber stating that their fingerprints are all over the budget, but this is not something of which to be proud.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have delivered a budget that does not provide any additional resources for the NEPS service, despite a clear programme for Government commitment to invest in the service. Vulnerable children are waiting years for assessments in order to access critical resources. The fact this has been ignored is unacceptable and inexcusable. These are children with special needs. Our education legislation states each and every child should reach his or her potential, and children have the right to reach their potential. How can they do so if a simple assessment, with recommendations to help children achieve their potential, cannot be carried out? This is where it is all going wrong and this needs to be addressed. Sinn Féin proposed an investment of €3.5 million in our alternative budget, which would have allowed for the recruitment of 43 extra psychologists and the provision of administrative support to enhance the capacity of this vital service.

Despite all the soundbites over the airwaves in recent months, Fianna Fáil is content to stand over a budget that does not provide any additional funding for school transport. Rural communities have been let down very badly and children cannot get seats on school buses. Perhaps I should not be surprised by this, given the fact it was a Fianna Fáil Government that introduced the cuts to the school transport in the first place. I am hugely disappointed that the promised review of school transport has not been delivered while schoolchildren throughout the State, including in my county of Offaly, have been left without school bus seats. Sinn Féin had proposed an additional allocation of €5 million to provide a more flexible and fair service that would deliver for the needs of our students and their communities.

Fianna Fáil also made much noise about the restoration of guidance counsellors. I am glad that party finally agrees with our position that the provision of guidance counselling services needs to be ring-fenced outside the existing pupil-teacher ratio.

I welcome the fact the Minister has since shifted his position and agrees with the need for ex quota guidance counselling provision. We received a note from the Department of Expenditure and Reform that an additional 750 posts would be required at a cost of €47.6 million to provide guidance counselling on an ex quota basis of one counsellor per 500 students, which is realistic and only fair. The additional investment of €2 million and the recruitment of 100 posts is a token gesture and does not go as far as it should to address the huge deficit in the service. In our pre-budget submission, we provided for the full restoration of guidance counselling, ex quota, on the basis of one guidance counsellor per 500 students.

The budget does absolutely nothing to address the issue of class sizes. Ireland has the second highest primary class size in Europe, which is unacceptable. Two thirds of all primary school pupils are being taught in classes of 25 or more. Oversized classes place a huge burden on teachers and can often mean that students do not receive the individual attention that they badly need. Students with special needs or, indeed, gifted pupils who need to be challenged are not getting the necessary attention because teachers are over burdened. In our budget submission, Sinn Féin proposed investment in capital and current spend to reduce the PTR at primary level and provide additional classroom accommodation to reduce class sizes.

The €35.6 million allocation for third level is nothing but a joke. In yet another glossy report commissioned by the Department of Education and Skills, Mr. Peter Cassells set out the clear need for immediate and substantial investment in third level but he was ignored. The €35.6 million allocation to provide for both higher and further education is wholly inadequate and is nowhere near enough to address the demand within the sectors. Sinn Féin proposed an investment of €150 million across each of these sectors to provide a much needed injection of funds.

This budget lacks vision. It tinkers around the edges and does not deliver the investment that our public services, including our education system, so desperately need. It seeks to play to the gallery rather than deliver what is in the best interests of the citizens of this State. It is populism at its very worst. Sinn Féin set out a clear plan that would deliver real and substantial investment in our education system. We listened to groups as diverse as IBEC, Social Justice Ireland, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and even the European Commission, which called for increased investment in public services. In a rare show of unity, both the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and IBEC oppose abolishing the USC and called for investment just like we were saying. In delivering this budget, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have shown that they have not learned the lessons from the past. They have once again acted to protect their friends and to give more back to higher earners rather than secure our children's future through investment in a quality education system that meets the needs of all our children. This budget does not deserve the support of the House.

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