Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is a breath of fresh air from the Government side.

In the short to medium-term, can a debate be arranged on public procurement and the involvement of Irish businesses, in particular indigenous businesses, in State contracts? The reason I ask is that I published a Bill last week which I intend to move in our next Private Members' time. It relates to improving access for Irish businesses to State procurement, both Government and local authority. The State spends approximately €15 billion per year in this area and, in many instances, we make it very difficult for Irish firms to participate. It would be worthwhile to have a debate on that.

Over the past three years, I have raised the issue of payments to home help workers, which are outstanding. The State has been in breach of two Labour Court recommendations that thousands of home help workers are entitled to a gratuity payment in lieu of pension entitlements. That was confirmed twice by the Labour Court. As I stated, I have raised the issue in the House on a number of occasions and raised it recently with the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar. As many people know, many home help workers are low paid and are on the minimum wage. They are a crucial part of our front-line services. I am pleased to be able to advise the House that after three years, some progress has been made with the new Minister and he has agreed to set up a group which will report in March on how this can be rectified. It is a pity the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Reilly, did not move as quickly when he was Minister for Health. However, I am grateful to the current Minister, Deputy Varadkar, for taking this issue seriously. I will keep the House updated on developments in that regard.

I refer to the primary schools online database. I am a little bit concerned about schools in my area of Fingal. I have been informed that last week, all families were given a green form to complete for the Department of Education and Skills to facilitate the setting up of the primary schools online database. Some parts of the form are optional. However, the Department of Education and Skills requires students' PPS numbers and mothers' maiden names and has indicated that failure to provide them will result in the school not receiving funding. Incomplete forms will be sent back to the parents next week to complete. I understood that an element of the form was optional and that if someone did not give his or her child's PPS number, it would not affect the level of capitation given to a school. However, I have been informed that is exactly what will happen. That is contrary to what the Minister for Education and Skills said only a few weeks ago in the media when concerns were raised about the State holding this information on schoolchildren. I fully understand the need for the database as it allows the State plan for the future. However, some of the information being asked for is not required and hence it should be optional. We are now finding out that some of the optional data sought is important in so far as the school getting capitation grants for these pupils. That is wrong and I do not think that is what is intended. Will the Acting Leader ask the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy O'Sullivan, to come to the House to explain the situation?