I move:—
That it is expedient to authorise such payments out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas as are necessary to give effect to any Act of the present session to amend the Vocational Education Acts, 1930 to 1950.
Committee on Finance. - Vocational Education (Amendment) Bill, 1953.—Money Resolution.
Question, put and agreed to.
Money Resolution reported and agreed to.
Bill considered in Committee.
Section 1 put and agreed to.
SECTION 2.
I move amendment No. 1:—
To delete sub-section (1) and substitute the following sub-section:—
(1) A vocational education committee may pay children's allowances, at such rates and subject to such conditions as the Minister for Education with the consent of the Minister for Finance may determine,in respect of children of retired or deceased teachers whose salary was differentiated on a marriage basis.
Amendment put and agreed to.
Section 2, as amended, put and agreed to.
Sections 3 and 4 put and agreed to.
Bill reported, with amendment, and received for final consideration.
Question proposed: "That the Bill do now pass."
I would like to ask the Minister to consider the position of County Roscommon in relation to this grant. I do not want to hold up the passage of this Bill, but Deputy Finan and myself are two representatives here of Roscommon Vocational Education Committee. That committee is doing excellent work, and we have been asked by the members to express in the strongest possible manner here their views with regard to increasing the State grant for vocational education purposes. We believe we are entitled to the same treatment as the seven counties which the Minister has mentioned. I do not for a moment want to criticise the fact that these counties will be entitled to get £2 for every £1 put up by the rating authority, but I cannot see any reason why Roscommon should be left out of that particular category. If the Minister has strong reasons for excluding Roscommon, the Roscommon County Council can give him equally strong reasons why this county should not be excluded from the more favourable terms offered to other counties. Alternatively, would the Minister agree to consider in the near future amending legislation entitling Roscommon to the same advantages as the other counties? I am not entitled, and neither is any other member of this House, to move an amendment in favour of County Roscommon since that would involve increased State expenditure. Consequently, our hands are tied and, much as I would like to move an amendment giving us the same terms as the other counties, I know the Chair would rightly rule me out of order.
I would like to endorsethe view expressed by Deputy McQuillan. The members of the vocational committee of the Roscommon County Council fully appreciate the value of vocational education and, indeed, it would be hard to get anywhere in this country a committee which thinks more of the importance of vocational education. They feel aggrieved in this matter and, in my opinion, justly aggrieved. I do not want to single out any particular county for comparison. The Minister may argue that some of the six or seven counties he has mentioned can be regarded as part of the Gaeltacht and on that ground a case can be made in their favour. Comparing Roscommon and Sligo, Sligo has a contribution from the State and I fail to understand why this disparaging discrepancy should be made against Roscommon. I ask the Minister to examine the matter again and rectify the position.
Roscommon is one of the counties scheduled under the Undeveloped Areas Bill.
It is in fact part of the congested areas and it is being catered for under the Undeveloped Areas Act. We feel very sore about this and if the Minister does not introduce amending legislation I am quite sure that our committee will have no option but to request Deputy McQuillan and myself to introduce some measure to put this matter on a more equitable basis.
These are matters that might have been discussed more appropriately on an earlier stage of this Bill.
If there is any alteration at all I think it should be universal. If it is decided to give an added contribution to the local rate I think that should be given in all counties. I think it would be very hard to make a special case for Roscommon as against Wicklow.
The only case that is being made for Roscommon is that it is scheduled under the Undeveloped Areas Act, and Wicklow is not.
I have a strong feeling that Roscommon is much more prosperous than Wicklow and that the land is much more fertile than the land of Wicklow.
There is an immense amount of congestion in the county.
I am allowing for that. There is a terrible amount of congestion around Bray and Arklow. Any further alteration should be universal.
It is very difficult to do abstract justice—to draw a line between particular counties. This is a matter that has been under consideration for a long time. Since I came to the Department of Education I have been meeting continually representatives of the vocational committees at their congresses and elsewhere and they have all been very insistent that there is a special case for these particular counties. The rating valuation is so low in them that the advance of one penny per £ on the rates makes no appreciable impression on the demand for vocational education. If we admit Roscommon there would be no justification for excluding a dozen other counties. A penny rate in Roscommon, I understand, means £1,321. Really, I could not meet the Deputy on this. Of course, Sligo town is quoted by Deputy Finan. A penny rate there only brings £155.
You are extending it to the county now.
That is the county, not the city.
No.
We are not giving any special consideration to Sligo town.
Yes—Sligo town and county.
I know they have it already but we are not giving them anything extra.
Question put and agreed to.