Joe O'Toole (Independent)

The reality is one of broken promises. At the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis, we were promised that the Government would double the capitation grant for primary schools. We were assured on numerous occasions that the pupil-teacher ratio would be reduced. Neither of these objectives has been achieved and their implementation will not be possible given the resources allocated.

I listened to the enthusiasm of the speakers on the Government side. The energised contribution of Senator MacSharry certainly made an impact. Senator O'Malley, meanwhile, put forward the point of view of the Progressive Democrats Party. Some of the provisions in the budget are undoubtedly welcome. I always point out the positives as well as the negatives in any Government initiative. For example, I support the exclusion of those on the minimum wage from the tax net. I welcome that some movement has been made in the area of housing, although I wonder whether the motivation for this was to satisfy builders and developers rather than buyers. I will let that rest for now.

In education provision, however, one does the sums and discovers there is an overall increase of less than 2%. This is an appalling increase. I emphasise to Senator MacSharry in particular that all the available funding will be used to build schools in the Pale.