Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When I made my initial comments on the previous five budgets, I always made the point that it is not just how much money we spend that matters. How we spend it is crucial. The question always is whether it delivers value for money. I am not just saying that here tonight.

Sometimes we get the impression that whoever is Minister is putting their hand in their own pocket and handing out money. In fact, the job of any Government or Minister is to manage the people’s money and to deliver good outcomes for money spent. In simple terms, it is to deliver value for money.

The Government amendment tells us all about the money spent and all the different programmes that are in place, but we need to go beneath the surface and beyond the headlines. We know the spending is taking place. The taxes are coming in. We have to ask if the spending is delivering value for money. Is it giving better outcomes for our young people in education? I will look at the detail of that shortly.

I wish to comment on the other issues raised in this Sinn Féin motion. Only two weeks ago, we witnessed another price hike in the saga of escalating costs for the children’s hospital, the most expensive hospital in the world, with a price tag of €2.24 billion as of today or yesterday. That represents an estimated 373% increase on the original cost. In a way, however, many people have become accustomed to these cost increases because they have been going on for so long. It was the small money for the bicycle shed at €336,000 - in fact a great deal of money but comparatively small money - the security hut at €1.4 million and the eye-watering increase in the price of modular homes for Ukrainians from €200,000 in June 2022 to €436,000 by June 2024 that really stopped most people in their tracks. It is this sense that there is a wilful disregard for prudence and caution in spending public money. I also get from people a sense of helplessness and frustration because they keep asking who is responsible for this spending and who makes the decisions. Who knew about the decisions being made all along the line?

There are a raft of questions and very few answers. People do not expect every project to come in on budget but are in general annoyed and frustrated by what they see as a cavalier attitude to spending their money. They know, as we all know, part of the role of Government is not just to spend our tax money, but to spend it wisely and well and, above all, to take responsibility for how that money is spent. We do not see that happening. In that context, I support the amendment by Deputies Canney and Tóibín.

While Government is ultimately responsible for how money is spent and the buck stops with the Minister, any Minister has to delegate. Responsibility has to go down the line as well as up the line. Those systems of accountability have to be put in place. That is something we really need to see.

Earlier I spoke about primary school funding and the outcomes from the moneys invested. Most of the Government's amendment tells us how much has been spent. The question is whether it is well spent. Are we getting good outcomes? Our average class size is 22.8 pupils, while the European average between very wealthy and less wealthy countries is 20 pupils per class. We are way above the average. There is chronic underfunding in Government expenditure in primary schools. It is equivalent to 15% per capita GDP, compared to 27% across a number of OECD countries. I know our GDP is overstated; nonetheless, the comparison is very poor.

A couple of months back, the Catholic Primary School Management Association did a survey of schools and came up with lots of statistics. It said seven out of ten primary schools have run at a deficit at some stage over the past 12 months and that the capitation grant barely covers energy and electricity costs, never mind all the other costs schools have to cover.

Let us look at the impact on our children. The number of children with special needs increased by 56% between 2017 and 2021. How did Government respond to that? More than 16,500 children are awaiting their first appointment with children's disability network teams. There is a staff vacancy rate of over 30%. We also have 19,500 children awaiting their first assessment of need. That further adds to the difficulties special needs pupils face in schools. Those are the bread-and-butter issues for schools, pupils and families. We see some high-profile things like free meals and free books, and those are important. Parents appreciate them but we have to look at how the system is working with all of this money being spent. I have to say the picture is pretty bleak.

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