Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I wish to share time with Senator Quinn. I welcome the Minister of State. The contribution by the Minister for Education and Science was interesting. I compliment his speech writer as I was taken by the statement: "The creation of a strong research, innovation and commercialisation ecosystem will be a crucial driver of future economic growth." That is a good example of green thinking in the Department and I commend the Minister. He said more than €640 million was spent on schools building projects in 2008 and he is pleased "the Government has increased [his] capital allocation for schools for 2009 by €75 million to a total of €656 million". Perhaps I misunderstood something but those figures do not add up and I would welcome clarification on that.

I welcome his comments on the increased allocation to special needs education and the recruitment of 50 additional psychologists. He also mentioned that every €255,000 invested in construction activity will generate a job and, on that measurement, he expects significant employment in the construction sector. Does he anticipate an increase in employment in the sector of approximately 2,500 jobs? Does he have specifics on that given he supplied the House with specifics on psychologists?

Every debate in the House at the moment relates to the economy, which is understandable. Most reasonable people accept the principle of the necessity for severe adjustments and, as I said on the Order of Business, people will feel a sense of injustice on occasion, which is unavoidable because they will be put in a position where they will have to worry about how to make ends meet. We are facing an uncertain future and we all accept a great deal of pain will go around. I am reassured, however, by the continuation of significant capital investment in our schools system as that is vital for the future. None the less, it would be wrong not to reflect on the fact that the cuts made in the budget last October are still live issues and their impact is being felt currently.

The most vulnerable in our society are probably most exposed to the risk for a number of reasons. First, the budget cuts have resulted in a substantial curtailment of both co-curricular and extracurricular activities offered by schools. This has a long-term impact for the broader educational experience of students at second level in particular. The difficulties experienced as a result of the substitution cuts are increasing pressure further.

The new staffing schedules are due to be sent out in the coming days which will detail the reduced staff numbers available to each school. This will have a significant and detrimental impact on the curriculum being offered, for example in the leaving certificate applied programme, which was particularly effective in retaining students at high risk of leaving the education system as it provided for a more vocational type of education. Schools have been striving to maximise education of these students and with the cuts they will become more vulnerable.

Senator Healy Eames mentioned the abolition of the book grant, which will have major ramifications, especially for families attempting to fund a student moving from the junior certificate cycle into the senior cycle. The outlay for books alone can be in the region of €350. Senator Healy Eames quoted an even higher figure in one case she had come across. Considering that this scheme was costing the Government only €7.5 million, its continuation could mean the retention of students who may otherwise drop out of school due to familial financial pressures. Those students may subsequently become dependent on the State at a later point. Even if half of this funding was continued it could at least fund those in most need of books for school. It is often those who are least able to articulate their needs who benefit most from such schemes which can be offered to needy families by schools.

The overall cuts have a knock-on effect for stand-alone schools, for example voluntary schools, that will be limited in the curricular choices they will be able to offer those who choose to send their children to such schools. The viability of these schools will be brought into question and may force closures for some smaller schools in, for instance, rural areas.

In the past I spoke in the House of the need to increase the number of IT advisers. Last year I called for a tripling of the investment in information and communications technology in schools to bring us up to OECD standards. I do not need to rehearse here the importance of information technology for us if we are to maintain the cutting edge in the global economy of the future. Last June the IT advisers of the 21 education centres around the country had their posts terminated by the Department of Education and Science. These advisers, working under the schools information technology implementation programme, were highly valued by the schools to which they were assigned. They provided IT support and advice for e-learning and the use of ICT generally in the classroom.

Interestingly, these positions were terminated on Friday, 20 June 2008 — a significant date — and the education centres appear to have had no further information on the potential reinstating of these roles or any other relevant information. I remember talking to one of the people closely involved at the time who felt very aggrieved at the timing of the announcement at the end of the school year when teachers would be least in a position to have their voices heard on the issue. Even at an in-service training session they had attended a number of days earlier they had not been given wind of this change. Is this a case of the Department playing PR with such people by timing the announcement so that it is least conducive to people making their voices heard? Given that it involved laying off people, I would be very worried if that were the case.

Schools have been left in a very vulnerable position in terms of incorporating information and communications technology tools into everyday implementation of the curriculum. The advisers performed a pivotal role in aiding teachers to choose and use the appropriate resources for IT. This gap is now being filled by companies who are selling ICT-based products and therefore may be based on commercial and not educationally sound information. The marketing and obtaining of such products may be so based.

We are all aware that the speed of technology change is rapid and that to be at the cutting edge of these advances, the skills being developed in schools must match our advancement in research and development in this area. We were once considered to be the software specialists of Europe and short-term measures such as the termination of the IT advisers will have long-term educational effects and will make it harder for future graduates to compete in the IT driven marketplace.

I wish to mention the issue of transparency and the speed of decision making on schools. Senator Healy Eames and I are former pupils of Holy Rosary College in Mountbellew. We both brought up the need for an extension in that school to double its size and include sports facilities. It was approved in 2001. This is an excellent school in a rural area that provides quality holistic education not just in academic standards but also in the rounded development of the student of which Senator Keaveney spoke. It is remarkable that as far back as 2005 this was marked as a priority extension. In 2007 the school was advised that the Department was anxious to proceed, yet it is still stuck at stage 3 and has not been advised that it will get approval to seek planning permission. It is anxious to move on and go to tender.

One wonders what is happening. Certainly some queries were raised with the school. However, they were technical and minor in nature, and were answered. One wonders whether there is a tendency to keep things bogged down in the system so that they do not come to the front of the house for dispatch as soon as they ought to. It cannot be good to delay quality education. Considering the care the teachers in that school have for their students, the support the school enjoys in the locality and that there are no grounds for the delay, one wonders what is happening.

I recently came across a school in Dublin city centre, which wants to expand. It wants to apply to the Department to knock down two existing schools and build a new school in that area. A religious order that owns a school, which has been closed, has offered the use of that school as an interim measure while the new primary school is being built. Does the Department have an ear for such opportunities? Presumably that religious order will want to sell on that property. Will the Department hear with urgency that it can make a saving by making a prompt decision or will the school be forced to go through a long waiting process, possibly resulting in the loss of the advantage to the State and the school?

I stress the importance of education to the economy, as mentioned by the Minister. We must also remember the need to educate our children for values. It is important to support the work of developing school children in a holistic sense — spiritual as well as academic and social — so that in these challenging times our students may become as rounded as they can be in the future.