Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The doorsteps of Ireland might be busy tonight. I do not know.

I am happy to speak here about the budget but it does not hide our severe disappointment regarding education. Education is the undoubted poor relation in this budget. I was surprised to hear some Ministers saying privately yesterday that education has done great in the budget. It shows a distinct lack of understanding of the current needs in the education sector.

There are two views on education and its purposes. Those views separate Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. One vision holds that education serves society and enables the citizen to participate fully in society to the best of his or her ability and to realise his or her potential. That is the Fianna Fáil view of education, which has been demonstrated by its putting of the right to free primary education into the Constitution under de Valera in the 1930s. Thirty years later, Donogh O'Malley announced free second level education and free transport to get people to school. A charge has been imposed since then. Fianna Fáil has invested in the institutes of technology. It effectively started and furthered special education to the widest extent through the education Act under Deputy Micheál Martin. Our view is that everybody should be allowed to reach his or her full potential, regardless of what one needs or wants to do in society. That can be to serve the economy or to become a good worker. The narrow view of education - the Fine Gael view - is that education serves enterprise. We have heard that from the Minister of State, Deputy Michael D'Arcy. To Fine Gael, education is solely about meeting the needs of the workforce and employers. The Fine Gael view is that education is simply a feed into the economy and workforce. The party does not understand that there is a much broader view of education, a much more rounded view. While it does serve the economy and workers, it serves society primarily.

The enterprise agenda in the Department of Education and Skills has won out big-time in this budget. A very worthy organisation called Skillnet does tremendous work with employers. I certainly have the height of praise for it. In the budget Skillnet receives an increase of 29% while funding for primary and secondary schools is increased by 5%. Therefore, the increase for business is almost six times greater than that for schools. This is in the education budget, not the overall Government budget. That is where Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael differ. Our priority in this budget was to increase funding to schools. I cannot believe the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, did not tackle that as one of his main initiatives. He did not seem to have any interest in it in the negotiations with his colleague, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe.

Second, it appeared that the miserly amount given to allow schools to run themselves properly was something to do with Fianna Fáil making it a key demand. Fine Gael would rather see children, principals and schools suffer than Fianna Fáil getting a victory. That is a pathetic way to deal with our education system. There was a distinct lack of interest in the school funding scenario in the face of rising costs, bills that principals and teachers must pay out of school finds, fundraising that schools are forced to do, and charges schools are forced to impose on parents. This conflicts totally with the constitutional guarantee of free education. Therefore, the two parties have totally different visions. This budget has set that out clearly for the future.

The major achievements in education over recent years have really stemmed from the confidence and supply agreement. Let us look to the return of guidance counselling. Fine Gael and the officials resisted this greatly. They simply wanted it gone, or, if it were to come back, it was to be provided by businesspeople going into schools, as was said to me. Admittedly, there is a place for businesspeople going into schools, but it should be at the direction of guidance counsellors. We want schools to engage with businesses. The vision of what education is about and the interaction that I had sums up the approach of the Government, namely, that education is all about business. Business is part of society but it is not the whole picture.

The postgraduate student maintenance grant has been brought back. I admit there was little resistance to this because its abolition was one of the worst cuts of the recession. The removal of the grant was simply about cutting a large section of poorer people from the highest levels of education. It was seen in our universities and research centres that students could simply not afford to do Master’s degrees or postdoctoral degrees because of the removal of the postgraduate maintenance grant. It is now back thanks to the confidence and supply agreement. We in Fianna Fáil are proud of that.

The pupil-teacher ratio was reduced last year in accordance with the confidence and supply agreement against significant and hardcore resistance from the Fine Gael Party. The pupil-teacher ratio is now at the lowest level ever. I am really proud to see schools with smaller classes and more teachers because of this provision in the confidence and supply agreement and because of the pressure exerted by Fianna Fáil to make sure it happened. That is what we are trying to do. We have an unending focus on education, resources, funding schools, creating more teaching space, making sure guidance counselling is resourced, and making sure schools can do the job they are supposed to do.

Much of what the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, set out in terms of extra teachers and extra special needs assistants is driven by demographics. There has been a considerable and welcome explosion in the population of young people in the country in recent years. This is continuing to work its way through the education system. When we hear the Government and Fine Gael boasting about the largest number of teachers and schools and the highest rate of expenditure on education, it has by and large to do with demographics and very little to do with new initiatives, the reform of education or trying to make things better in our schools.

The capital budget has increased substantially for 2019. If, however, one reads the small print of the budget, one will see there is no increase at all for 2020. Therefore, the funding seems to be front-loaded next year. The increase secures the reintroduction of the minor works grant, which is gone this year, apparently; the reintroduction of the summer works scheme for next year; and €50 million at third level, which has been already committed. Therefore, a large part of the increase for next year is already taken up with standard items in the annual capital budget for education. Therefore, we are sceptical that the money allocated for capital expenditure and the increase for next year will actually meet the needs of our education system and buildings.

Forty-two new schools were announced by the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, on 13 April. It is now close to 13 October, six months later, but practically nothing has happened in regard to the 42 schools. There were four patronage processes. The truth is that parents in the areas where the patronage processes took place are none the wiser as to where the schools will be, when they will open and who the patrons will be. What is now happening in the areas for which the schools are planned is that parents are visiting in anticipation of their children starting school next September but they have no information whatsoever on any of the schools.

It would be timely for the Minister to give an update on whether any or all of these projects will proceed as he has announced. It is not good enough to announce these schools in April last and then follow up with little information to parents.

I welcome the spending of the surplus from the NTF, but the title, "human capital initiative", is a sign of the enterprise culture that is taking over the Department of Education and Skills, which is very worrying. I accept that employers are paying the NTF levy and that they must be consulted on where it is spent, but one of the principal purposes of this initiative is, as the Minister said, to meet the future skills needs of the economy and provide additional investment in higher education. It is about meeting the future skills needs of the economy rather than serving society. That is the difference in vision.

There is some improvement in special needs provision, but we do not know whether it will be enough. Much of the increase in the budget is for demographics and will not mean much change.

I will comment briefly on climate change. It has been the laggard under this Government, which has shown no interest in it whatsoever. Schools and the education system could be at the forefront of tackling climate change but there is nothing in that regard. We do not opt for renewable technologies in our schools. I was told it could not be done in respect of solar panels because the sun shines during the summer when schools are closed. It is a ludicrous argument. We must tackle climate change as a key part of the capital budget for education. The minor works grant next year should have a focus on climate change, be it by improving insulation, improving windows to keep schools warmer and drier, improving roofs, making heating more efficient or by improving the lighting in schools. There should be an emphasis on that and it is about time the Government showed seriousness of intent in that regard.

There are two visions for education. At some point in the next year or two, there will be an election. We do not know when, but it will certainly take place. We will review progress, and I have done some of that in this contribution, but, at that point, the public will have a chance to decide between the two visions for education I have outlined today. I will appeal to the public to examine what education should be about.

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