Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The complete waste of money is appalling, about which there is an outcry the Government is ignoring. It is quite adamant this pouch scheme is going to work. It knows as well as I do that no phone is going to go into that pouch. It is only codding us. I would like to know who is making these pouches. We need a bit more information about this because it seems the Government is determined to go ahead with a nonsensical idea.

I have been on a board of management for more than 20 years and have seen how difficult it is to pay for electricity and oil. The capitation grant is a disaster. Some schools have gone to the local priest to pull out a cheque and pay for that. The Government thinks there is no problem with this. A total of €9 million can be squandered but when it comes to paying schools' bills, it cannot do anything. I have seen people who need the summer works scheme. I spoke to people from Laragh National School in Bandon. Some great work was done by Cork County Council on the roadside but they had to do some work inside the school grounds. What did the Department tell them? It said it would not pay for it and that the school either had to do it itself or get the council to pay for it. Obviously, the council is doing the work on the outside on the road. There is now a safety issue, children could be knocked down and killed and the Department is adamant it is not going to pay for that work. More than 20 people are looking to go from Bantry to Schull on a bus. This is desperately needed transport and the Government has continually refused to provide it. The same is happening in Laragh in Bandon where the Department is refusing to put a bus on to take children to school, but €9 million can be found no problem. The Government is really putting more and more pressure on boards of management and parents' associations who desperately need extra cash and are organising cake sales, tea afternoons and coffee mornings to try to pay so that the Government can squander the money they are trying to raise. Regarding children with special needs, I know of numerous people looking for this service.

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