Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am very grateful to Deputy Brendan Smith for his act of kindness. It is much appreciated.

I am delighted to speak in this debate. I welcome the Minister to the House. He will not be a stranger to the benefits that the music, culture and arts communities bring to society. This point is self-evident; it is a truth. It would be very useful if the Government were to consider restoring the pandemic unemployment payment to the thousands of people whom we have heard from in the past 24 to 48 hours. We would be doing them a great service if we were to recognise their talents and the fact that they are going to be last back into the fray. I join in the calls from other Members to ask for the restoration of the pandemic unemployment payment. It would have a tremendous impact in terms of keeping people above the threshold. Many of them have fallen through the floor. We know of households that had two incomes arising from involvement in the music or arts sectors, or from production, lighting or theatre companies. There are those whose mortgages are now put in abeyance, and they have experienced a serious loss of income. If this could be re-examined, we would all welcome it.

It is important when we examine the issue of stimulus in general that we do not take our eye off the ball in respect of capital projects, particularly schools projects. In my constituency, Cork East, there are two projects of note, one concerning the Patrician Academy in Mallow and another concerning the Carrigtwohill schools campus, under the auspices of the education and training board. We learned today that the tender process for the Carrigtwohill project is not expected to start until the first quarter of 2021. We recognise that there were delays but there has been a significant delay in this project in very general terms. It was announced in 2012 so this has been going on for quite some time now. The Government is accountable, no more than we were when we were in government. In light of the delay with the planning application, and given that we now hear there are to be further deliberations on the local road infrastructure, could the Government, as the key stakeholder and the body that will ultimately be issuing the cheques, take the lead in engaging with the third-party developer, the local authority, the education and training board and the local community, which has demonstrated some forbearance regarding this issue, with a view to pressing ahead with the vital project? The knock-on effect of missing a quarter regarding progress is that more prefabs will be needed on the school campus come September 2021.

I raise this issue in the context of this debate because it concerns a stimulus project. It has the potential to create hundreds of construction jobs. It is pertinent to the debate we are having today about not taking the foot off the pedal regarding capital expenditure when there is a deficit of the kind in question. There is a borrowing requirement. We can more than adequately proceed with these projects given our borrowing potential.

4 o’clock

With regard to roads like the N72, N73 and the Fota Road, I speak unashamedly about my own constituency in the context of this debate because it has the potential to create jobs.

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