Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As was said, the purpose of the Appropriation Bill is to give statutory authority to the amounts voted on by the Dáil during the year from the original Estimates, Further Revised Estimates and Supplementary Estimates. If the Bill was not enacted, the Departments could not spend. The Bill also allows for capital carryover as per the Finance Act 2004. Each Department can carry over 10% of its capital allocation to the next year.

The key to this Appropriation Bill is that it is a constitutional requirement and is essential to ensure that the Departments can spend come January. For this reason, we will be supporting it. The Bill used to be waved through the Dáil without debate. It is important that this is no longer the case. Obviously, everything is rushed because we are to have an election, so there is not much time for discussion. If anything, this House needs greater scrutiny of the budget and spending. People at home have had their eyes opened about this Government's approach to spending their money. The Government cannot properly manage to construct a bike shed or a security hut for a reasonable price. I do not need to remind anyone of the wholesale mismanagement of the national children's hospital.

Capital investment is key not only in dealing with the major cracks in public infrastructure but is also a key driver with regard to job creation and regional development. The public needs housing, healthcare, community centres, flood defences, roads and critical infrastructure. In Mayo, the chronic shortage of housing is the number one reason that constituents contact my office. There are simply not enough social and affordable homes being built and the Government knows this. Housing need is rising across the State continuously.

We also need investment in Knock Airport and our rural roads. For this reason, it is astonishing, as people will see, that €129 million is being carried over to next year that was unspent this year. We also have the western rail corridor that needs to be started immediately. Without this vital infrastructure, we cannot fulfil our true potential along the western corridor and the Atlantic economic corridor. Additionally, the ports and harbours in Mayo are in need of investment. I recently raised the situation at Porteen Harbour with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

With regard to the €31 million unspent in agriculture, the debacle around the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, the scoring and not having the information that is needed for farmers is such a deterrent to farmers engaging in the climate change actions they need to do. I have followed all of the schemes, from rural environment protection scheme, REPS, 4 and the agri-environment options scheme, AEOS, to the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, and ACRES. One after the other, these schemes have been a diminution of what they are supposed to do with regard to facilitating farmers to farm in a climate-friendly way. It is an absolute failure of the Government, particularly with regard to ACRES. There is no way that any other sector would have to go through what farmers have to go through in order to get the payments they are entitled to.

I turn to education and the carryover there. The school estate is also in need of attention. Earlier today, we had visitors from the Castlebar Educate Together school in the House. It was promised a new school building two years ago, but nothing has happened since. In fact, it is not two years ago, it goes back further. I talked to sixth-class students today who have been promised a new school since they started, and it still has not happened. They are still operating across three locations in Castlebar. That is an absolute headache for families with multiple children attending the school, particularly where there is a child with special needs, and they cannot be schooled together with their sibling. It is unfair on these children that a proper school identity cannot evolve with different children being educated in multiple different unsuitable locations. Castlebar primary school was also in touch with my office regarding a playing field that is required. St. Gerald's College in Castlebar regularly has to close its gym because of leaks in the roof. There are no excuses for it when we are dealing with so much money here. There is no excuse that so many places are left behind. We find in County Mayo and the west that many places are left behind. It is not right. We need positive discrimination if anything for infrastructure that needs to be done in the west to fulfil our potential and move from the disadvantaged position we are in. There is no shortage of need for capital investment from the Government. I ask the Minister to ensure this is where Government funding goes, instead of to projects that people did not want or ask for.

I have to raise the issue of the pyrite redress scheme again. Day after day, I talk to homeowners who face the scourge of the pyrite scandal. We need 100% redress now. We need a full public inquiry into how this was allowed to happen and the light regulation or absence of regulation of the quarries and suppliers.

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