Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The schools building programme in this country has been very successful over the past number of years but many more schools are needed. I have a concern that I know is shared with colleagues, which is that come 4 p.m., many of our fantastic school buildings cease being in use. The Department of Education really must formulate a strategy to use these well-funded and beautiful public buildings for social, community, cultural, arts and music events and so on after hours, along with adult education. Some schools do this all the time and some do it very successfully but some literally close their doors at 4 p.m. and that is it. They are shut over the evenings and the weekend.

We need a national strategy to use the space that is available in schools after school hours and at weekends to benefit the community and youth groups and the citizens of this country. We should bear in mind that hundreds of millions of euro are spent every year building beautiful school buildings and it is a shame to see them closed and not used for months in the year from 4 p.m. onwards.

I commend and congratulate school management and principals who let their schools be used after hours. For those who do not, there is a duty, in my view, to change that approach. I call on those boards of management to do this on a voluntary basis but, really and truly, we need a strategy on this at a departmental level. Perhaps the Minister could make a statement in that regard at some stage because it is a shame to see those facilities going to waste in the evenings and at weekends.I have been calling for the 9% VAT rate for a long time. It should be permanent. The hospitality industry has been through a bruising three years and that is continuing with the war in Europe and the difficulties in finding staff. I welcome that it has been extended to the end of 2022. It will provide relief to the many thousands of people who are running small hospitality businesses throughout the country. These people want to look to the future with more certainty. We need a discussion now on applying the 9% VAT rate permanently for our hospitality, leisure and tourism industries.

The biggest problem that tourism and hospitality industry has is with shortage of staff. We need an urgent debate in the House on expediting work permits, which take too long. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment should come to the House to discuss how we can take a common-sense logical approach to speeding up the granting of work permits. Many restaurants and hotels are on their knees because they cannot get staff. I hope the Leader will be able to facilitate a debate on that as a matter of urgency.