Vol. 276 No. 13
I move:
That a sum not exceeding £14,009,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the period commencing on the 1st day of April, 1974, and ending on the 31st day of December, 1974, for grants-in-aid of An t-Údarás um ÁrdOideachais, certain Higher Education Institutions and Services and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
Could I ask either the Minister for Education or the Minister for Finance if they could indicate very briefly the reason why the capital sum proposed for higher education is the same for the next 12 months as it was for the last nine months.
What figure is the Deputy referring to? The Supplementary or the Main Estimate?
I am referring to the capital sum provided in the public capital programme. It appears to be the same for the next 12 months as it was for the past nine months. In the light of the Minister's recent announcement, it seems to indicate that the Minister does not intend to implement his arrangements very fast.
This is a disgraceful performance. It is a very poor performance by the Government. It is chaos.
We have not been given an answer.
If the Opposition were genuine about it they would have sought more than an hour. They agreed to pass through these Estimates in an hour. There is no difficulty at all in furnishing all the information they want and all we would ask for is reasonable notice. They are asking questions now which would require massive documentation in the House and it could not possibly be foreseen or reasonably given within an hour. The Opposition probably went about presenting these things so as to give an interpretation outside that the information is not available to the Government. The information can be made available and we will communicate it to the Deputies or give the information to the public. To ask to have this large number of Estimates passed through in one hour in accordance with the traditions of this House and then to seek detailed information of this kind is acting in an unreasonable way. The question is not relevant to the Estimate we are being asked to pass; we are being asked a question about capital Estimates for next year.
The Minister said that it was unreasonable to expect him, or the Minister for Education, to know the answer to the question I put but I submit that if the Minister for Education makes what purports to be a major announcement which will affect higher education for many years to come in conjunction with that announcement the Minister should have in his head the kind of provision being made for higher education.
In respect of the Ballymun complex the planning must now begin and the capital provision for this will not take place, obviously, in the present year, or in the coming year. I do not see how the Deputy's question could arise in respect of the Estimate in front of us.
