Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle. This legislation represents necessary housekeeping that has been identified and it is a constitutional requirement that relates to the mandate and powers to ensure that money is expended. As a general point, this pandemic has taught us about public spending and the role of the State and that, contrary to some of its critics, it is capable of being agile, responsive and innovative when required and when the political will is there. That is not to say that all public expenditure can be clumsy and careless but it does provide a response to some of the critics who believe that the State is inefficient. The pandemic has proven that that is not the case and that the role of the State is crucial.

I will raise a number of areas of expenditure, some of which are areas the Minister will be sympathetic to and will potentially have been working on himself. It is important, nonetheless, to give them an airing. He will be aware, when it comes to capital expenditure, of the plight Cork Educate Together Secondary School finds itself in. We were both there when it was officially announced in 2016. The position in that school has been continuing since then. I do not need to fill the Minister in with the details as if it had been another Minister I might have needed to do so. We have a situation where the Department is spending €80,000 to €90,000 a year on school transport to take students from the south side to the other side of the city. It is very frustrating for the school, in that only half a class can do art, they have to go to Collins’ Barracks for physical education, PE, or to the Glen Resource Centre as the school has no PE facilities itself. There is a great deal of time lost in education because of the time spent travelling. It is vitally important as I know that this is not just about funding. Some of this is about the State’s ability to plan ahead, identify where there is going to be population growth, have the work done in advance to know where a school will need to be built and to have that part of development done. I urge the Minister to continue working with the Minister for Education to have this delivered as soon as possible and to bring that nightmare to an end.

I welcome the €13.7 million additional funding for Cork Airport. On funding for aviation, we need to be aware that the recovery is not going to happen over a year or two but potentially over three or four. Although these undertakings will also need to carry their own water, additional supports will be needed from the State for three to four years to enable all our airports to recover. Cork Airport is crucial to our own region.

I wish to raise briefly in the last few seconds I have left the issue that was raised this morning regarding the assessments of need of 4,000 children. It has a great impact, not only on their quality of life but on their ability to reach their full potential. This has been dragging on for far too long. There have been so many false dawns in how we address this. It urgently needs to addressed because many children are losing out and their potential is being undermined by their failure to get the assessment of needs and the services that are necessary to follow it.

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