Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, to the House in the absence of the Minister for Finance. To say the Estimates as presented are of any significant importance is overkill in so far as most people say this is a book exercise delivering figures and their meaning. If this is the sum total of the Government's intentions for the coming year, it is a retrograde step. The Minister has the opportunity to target areas where need is greatest. I see no evidence that the Minister has used this opportunity to target the weakest areas in society. I would welcome correction on this.

I want to highlight two areas in particular. In the Estimates the Minister makes a contribution to IDA Ireland, industrial development and where we are going. If it is policy that we are to have a fair, level field for development and job creation throughout the country, we have serious problems, especially in the west. It has been highlighted time and again that IDA Ireland concentrates on a few large urban centres, namely, Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. When one crosses the Shannon at Athlone there is no worthwhile contribution to job creation by the IDA, the body charged with creating jobs. The only time we see the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on television is when good news is announced. We will never again see the major job creation by American companies as has happened, except in elitist positions for graduates. This is welcome as part of research and development.

Enterprise Ireland is doing a reasonably good job in job creation. Its work is targeted at local level but it supports only the endeavours of local entrepreneurs to create jobs and employment. The IDA has abandoned job creation outside the centres to which I referred. It is doing so because it claims it cannot attract people.

The former Tánaiste, Deputy Harney, and the current Minister, Deputy Martin, have established task forces. One example is the case of Ballinasloe, a town that lost three flagship industries in recent years. The response was to establish a task force of local agencies, the local authority, councillors, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. The task force is only a talking shop, an excuse to soften the blow and announce the delegation of training, for example, to FÁS. Deputy Harney's response to the closure of the last major industry in Ballinasloe was to suggest workers travel to Athlone and Galway by train for jobs. If that is the response of the Minister who had responsibility for industrial development, is it any wonder the west has been abandoned by the IDA?

AT Cross, Square D and Dubarry were major industries in Ballinasloe. The first was a high tech company, Square D was an industrial engineering process facility and Dubarry was a traditional shoe manufacturing company. All three are no longer on the scene. An important tax incentive designation for the upper Shannon has been a major success. This was introduced by a former Minister as a pilot project. If the Government is serious about regenerating an industrial black spot, such as Ballinasloe, the Minister should focus some incentives on the middle Shannon region, south of Athlone, around Ballinasloe, Portumna and Killaloe. Those in the Shannon area, as distinct from the IDA, have been positive in supporting the development of local industry from the Shannon industrial authority area as far as Birr, on the other side of the Shannon. On the western side of the Shannon there are serious difficulties with development. At a time of plenty the Minister should target this area for an extension of the pilot scheme. Anyone who visits the region can see the improvements made to the upper Shannon area. It can be extended to the middle Shannon area, where industrial jobs have been lost, agricultural output has declined and people are exasperated by the flight from the land. I hope the Minister for Finance, a neighbour of the area, can recognise the need for such a pilot scheme in this area.

We have another example of the callous disregard for those who are most vulnerable in society, namely, the decision to appeal the tribunal ruling in favour of the Equality Authority on behalf of two people challenging the supplementary addendum to leaving certificate results. This may have been done by Department officials or the curriculum examination section, acting unilaterally without the knowledge of the Minister. If the Minister sanctioned it, it indicates and verifies her failure to recognise those who are vulnerable in society. The addendum highlighted the inadequacies of the people who received the leaving certificate. It was unbelievable and unprecedented that any Department would highlight the special needs of those candidates and that they were inadequate in areas of spelling and grammar. Traditionally, the Department of Education and Science made special provision for those types of students to receive assistance in the examination, which may be a traumatic event in view of the students' special needs. Instead of challenging this ruling once more and bringing further trauma, I ask the Minister for Education and Science to examine this matter and withdraw the appeal. It will have the most serious consequences ever known in an educational process.

The Department of Agriculture and Food, which had been traditionally associated with challenges, goes through court processes every year to challenge minor routine matters that it has failed to discuss with various parties involved. I do not know why this is the case. Perhaps officials in a Department believe they can make a name for themselves and use the court decision as a benchmark of success. They fail to acknowledge this costs the taxpayer money. What does it achieve? A further putdown to those disadvantaged in our society. I urge the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Lenihan, to ask the Minister for Education and Science to withdraw the appeal.

Regarding the Estimates, over the years the Department has proposed public private partnerships for building schools, school management and the provision of services and maintenance afterwards. In three examples, Cork, Sligo and Monaghan, the project was completed at a cost 13% higher than the estimate of the Department. The Department of Education and Science has withdrawn the idea that it would go through that same process in Donabate where there is an urgent need for a second level school. Nonetheless, when I examine the Estimates, I see the provision under the heading of public private partnerships is increasing by 58%. Is this a failure to recognise that the use of public private partnerships in the provision of schools has not worked given that we are now withdrawing from the process because three of the schools provided under it cost 13% more than the sum for which the Department could have provided them, never mind the sum for which the local communities could have provided them had they been given the chance? There was a move towards allowing local communities provide for and build their own schools. They could have done it much more cheaply than in other instances. Can the Minister of State tell me why, on the one hand, we seem to be abandoning the process of public private partnership in education and, on the other, there is a 58% increase in the funding for this specific element according to the Estimates?

With the Chair's permission, I will discuss one further aspect.