Michael McCarthy (Labour)

Will the Leader clarify the time the debate on the Harbours (Amendment) Bill will begin? If I heard him correctly, he said it would be at the conclusion of No. 1, which is 2 p.m. but the schedule indicates 2.30 p.m. I would appreciate it if the Leader would clarify that.

I agree with Senator O'Toole who raised the issue of the school buildings programme. I attended a meeting on Monday night regarding a particular school in Kinsale and heard all the jargon used by the Department in regard to bands, design stage and the different stages involved in the process of delivering the various programmes. It is very difficult to face parents, the board of management, teachers and staff and tell them that I do not know when the school will be delivered. Along with Senator O'Toole, I believe the manner in which the Department delivers these schemes must be debated. We must know the timeframe involved when the process moves from one stage to the next and what the local people on the ground need to do to advance that. That is important. As we see no improvement in the current economic climate it is more important than ever that we ensure this country has a decent education infrastructure to deliver the graduates of the future who are required not only to reboot the economy but to keep the economy going.

I want to raise the issue of a national insulation scheme. Given the current economic turmoil this country and other European Union member states are going through, it is important that we have, first, an economic strategy to reboot the economy. Second, an issue put forward by my party on many occasions which is proactive, positive and important in the week before the Minister frames his first budget is the introduction of a national insulation scheme. There are a number of benefits to such a scheme. First, it produces more energy efficient homes. Second, it provides employment for those who have lost their jobs due to the downturn in the construction industry and, third, it takes people off social welfare and gets them back to contributing tax revenues to the State. It is one important policy the Government would not be doing any harm by implementing.