Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time. Ghabh mé comhghairdeas leis an Aire nua roimhe seo agus guím gach rath ar an triúr eile, an tAire, an Teachta Harris, agus na hAirí Stáit, an Teachta Niall Collins agus an Teachta Madigan. Go n-éirí leo sna róil nua atá acu.

I welcome the opportunity to briefly speak on the Revised Estimates. I thank the Parliamentary Budget Office for its work and for producing a very good paper. It has raised many good and not so good issues. It points out that, in particular, the pattern of little or no information being provided on performance for the spending of vast sums of money is far from best practice and, even in challenging circumstances, that needs to be addressed. That does not apply only to this Department, it applies to all of them.

It is unfortunate that we are discussing the Revised Estimates with no provision for Covid-19. The Ministers stated they will come back on this, and I welcome that they have indicated that there will be no shortage of money and that funding will be provided. I am still not entirely clear on when the Ministers will come back to us. I presume schools will have opened and the Minister will come before us at that point.

The issue of school transport has arisen in the context of a special school in Galway. I am sure it is not confined to Galway or the July provision. This problem will arise in September. What analysis or research has been carried out by the Department on this matter? Is it in a position to provide such an analysis? Does it have sufficient staff to carry out this type of analysis? Will the Department examine the July provision to determine how many children were excluded and how the system can be improved for next year? Does it have that type of resources? If not, why not and what is it going to do about it?

We are constantly told that we need to make decisions based on evidence. I know for a fact that children in Galway are being excluded from the July provision because of the failure to provide school transport. Related to that is, of course, climate change. We have no choice but to embrace school transport. What provisions are being made by the Department for comprehensive school transport that will deal with our climate change obligations?

Additional space has been mentioned, and it is something I would like the Minister to reflect on. Schools have been forced to use space for private car parking in order to provide additional income. This is very bad because it uses public space for car parking, something which is obviously essential in a place like Galway. We need a different way of looking at this in light of our climate change obligations and the fact that, I presume, there will be a reduction in the use of private cars in the future. This came into acute focus for me recently when there was a difficulty with a market that had to be spaced out. Space had to be bought from a school that provided car parking in its yard for years. These decisions have follow on consequences.

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