Dáil debates

Thursday, 14 October 2021

Financial Resolutions 2021 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed)

 

1:35 pm

Photo of Pádraig O'SullivanPádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As Deputy Richmond said, it is quite difficult to comment on the budget in five minutes. We need to recognise the positives. We are good at accentuating the negatives in here all the time. Listening to some of the previous speakers you would swear this was not a progressive budget. There are things happening in childcare and education that must be acknowledged. I will focus on a few issues that need to be highlighted.

Over the past few days, Adam Terry and his mother, Christine, have been in the limelight with regard to scoliosis. I listened to the case of another family this morning on "Today with Claire Byrne". This budget commits to an extra €250 million to tackle waiting lists. That is fine. That big headline figure sounds great and it might do great things but, at the same time, it is quite clear that there is a specific problem as regards scoliosis. Covid has contributed to waiting lists and scoliosis waiting lists alone have increased by 32% because of the pandemic. There are now 172 children on those waiting lists who need urgent medical attention and need those appointments to proceed. If that requires extra units to be set up or utilising the National Treatment Purchase Fund or whatever the case may be, that needs to happen. I am led to believe that many of these operations can take place in Cappagh Hospital. It was said earlier that there is capacity in the hospital but the information we have from on the ground is that there is not. There is a requirement for additional theatres there to provide for these operations. At best consultants can do a couple of operations a week and that is not going to tackle the waiting list.. As I said previously, and as I have said to my own parliamentary party, it is great to hear about hundreds of millions of euro for this and hundreds of millions for that but if that does not translate to tackling issues such as this that have dominated the airwaves over the past two days, then people on the ground will not feel the benefits of what budget 2022 has brought.

The second issue I would like to raise is SNAs, teacher allocations and special education teachers in particular. An additional 1,165 SNAs and 980 special teachers are to be provided for in this budget. That is great in that some of our most vulnerable children and those with special educational needs will be catered for. However, I would flag a specific issue relating to Irish Sign Language and deaf children or children suffering from profound hearing difficulties. Approximately 20 kids in mainstream schools are not currently being facilitated by the Department with an Irish Sign Language teacher, as is their constitutional right. There are a number of cases before the High Court on this issue but this allocation of 980 special teachers can provide for those 20 or so children nationally and deliver on that constitutional right.

I acknowledge again that there is a reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio from 25 to 24, following on from last year's reduction. This is a progressive measure that is going to be phased in over a number of budgets. That is very welcome in that we will get closer to our EU counterparts in that regard.

School transport is an issue, particularly for rural Deputies. Every year we face the prospect of children not being able to get to their schools and while there was some tinkering done this year to get additional seats on buses, the overall scheme needs a dramatic overhaul. There is a review under way, but in the current climate where we are offering a 50% reduction on public transport to students aged between 19 and 23, that scheme should be extended to all children of schoolgoing age. Ultimately, I would like to see that lead to fully-funded and free school transport for all.

It is heartening that initiatives such as the school meals programme are being expanded every year. It will lead to further phases and, ultimately, there will be a point where we will have free school meals for all kids who need them. It is good to see that we are going in that direction but, again, I hope we can make further progress on this and get it done sooner rather than later.

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