Dáil debates

Friday, 24 July 2020

Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (Resumed)

 

2:45 pm

Photo of Thomas GouldThomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the establishment of the new Department. I particularly wish to emphasise the area of apprenticeships and having a co-ordinated strategy to engage with people and get more people to take up apprenticeships. In the past, Governments have allowed the private sector and some local authorities to manage apprenticeships in an ad hocfashion, depending on the market. I am looking for a constructive plan to be put in place by the Department to give apprenticeships their place in the educational system. The system in Germany and the number of apprentices that are trained across all sectors is something we should establish here. I hope the Department takes that on board.

One of the Department's key jobs will be to encourage those who do not have traditional third level backgrounds or families without a history of going to third level.

Sometimes the supports are not in place, in either the schools or colleges, to make that transition possible. I did not go to third level when I left school. I went straight to work after I did my leaving certificate in the North Mon and a month later I had a job. That was the road I went down. It was not until I was in my early 30s that I went to Cork Institute of Technology, as a mature student. Even in the case of my wife, Michelle's, family, she and her brothers were the first generation to go to third level. When she went to college, she gave up after four months. We were talking about this new Department and she made the point that when she went to college, she had no friends there and did not know anyone. She felt lost and alone and she did not think the appropriate structures were there. When she gave up college after four months, no one ever checked up on her to see why or what had happened. In light of her and my experiences, we want the Department to ensure that no one will be left behind.

My wife, Michelle, went back to education ten years later, to University College Cork, where she graduated with an honours degree. She felt she was older, more mature and better able to do that at that stage of her life. She is a teacher now. She made the point to me that some young people do not feel they are good enough and they need that extra support and encouragement. Every person in this country should have the right and ability to go to third level if that is what he or she chooses. That is why this Department has major work to do to encourage that and to help accomplish it.

Accordingly, I really want to support the Department, but the problem is the increase in super junior Ministers' pay by €16,000 each, or €48,000 a year, which will be €240,000 over the lifetime of the Government. In the area of Cork North-Central, which I represent, there are significant issues with getting funding for different projects. People have contacted me, and will continue to do so, to ask how the Government can justify this at this time. I stood here last night and asked the Minister for Health when the increase in medical card limits will be rolled out. There is to be an expansion of the eligibility to anyone over the age of 70 and an increase in the limits, which will mean more people will be entitled to a medical card. The Minister could not tell me a date. People will see that a date for that cannot be given but that a date can be given for an increase in the salaries of super junior Ministers.

My constituency of Cork North-Central has seen the closure of dental clinics, both at the Cope Foundation in Montenotte and on Harrington Square. We are facing the closure of the Mount Cara residential house care setting in Redemption Road. There are considerable issues in Cork with traffic-calming measures because the northern ring road was never completed, which means articulated heavy-goods vehicles drive through residential areas. I have taken part in campaigns in recent months with many groups that deal with such issues, such as in Knocknaheeny, Killard, Garranabraher and right into Glanmire and Blarney, who are seeking traffic-calming, speed-reduction measures and signs. The money is not there to provide them, but now we are able to find this kind of money for the super junior Ministers.

I have been on the picket line with Debenhams workers for more than 100 days. They have been looking for just two weeks' pay more than is provided by statutory redundancy, but the Government cannot do that for them or support them in that. This week a motion tabled by Solidarity-People Before Profit to support the Debenhams workers was voted down, while the Government tabled an amendment that killed our motion last week, which sought to support maternity leave and childcare. These were good proposals that would make a real difference to ordinary people. It sends out the message that the elites can get additional money but ordinary people have to suffer on. To me, that is not the message we should send out from the House.

In my area of Cork city and my constituency of Cork North-Central, there are considerable issues with housing maintenance, with Cork city and county councils not having enough funding. There are also significant issues with trying to find funding to get derelict and vacant houses returned to use as quickly as possible. We want to support the Government’s Bill, but as long as the increase in ministerial pay is tied in to it, we cannot do so. We think it is not right. What started as a good, positive idea for everyone, with the setting up of a new Department, should have been left at that. It should have been constructive. As our leader, Deputy McDonald, and our party have stated, we will work with the Government when we think it is making the right decisions. The setting up of this Department is a step in the right direction but we are really disappointed that the Government has chosen to add this pay component to it.

I hope the Minister will take on board the points we are making. Young people from communities I represent want to go to third level. I hope the Government will take on board the challenges they face, in terms of both the isolation issue and the financial issue, and the challenges regarding apprenticeships. There are significant issues with youth unemployment at the moment, and proper apprenticeship scheme would help us to get more young people involved in education and training. That is what the Department should be all about.

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