I want at the outset to compliment the Labour Party and my colleague, Deputy Taylor, in particular for giving their Private Members' Time to this debate. The Labour Party, like the Progressive Democrats, have an opportunity only once every Dáil term to move a Private Members' Motion and they deserve all our thanks, particularly those of us who have worked on behalf of the people in Tallaght to bring about the much needed facilities for the area, for bringing this debate to the floor of the Dáil.
I have to take issue with the remarks of Deputy Shatter who believes that the catalyst for this debate was the Fine Gael proposals launched by Deputy Dukes some months ago in the Tallaght area. The catalyst for this debate was the very fine report drawn up by the Tallaght Welfare Society and I would like to compliment them, their chairman, Mr. Aidan Thomas, and their director, Mr. Brian Kenny, for the marvellous work they have done for all of us; indeed, they put Government agencies to shame by the fine way they have been able to draw together the facts and the information and present in a very coherent way the case for change in the manner in which Tallaght has been treated by various Government agencies.
If there is anything we do not need more of in Tallaght it is false political promises from whatever political party happens to be in power. As somebody who has sat on both sides of this House in my six years since becoming a Member of Dáil Éireann it seems to me that when people move from the Government side to the Opposition side suddenly they can find the panacea for all Tallaght's ills and nothing is impossible. Tallaght, for its size, has never been given any recognition by any Government in this country. As Deputy Walsh says, Tallaght receives more than its share of bad publicity from the national media, and I suppose it is indicative of their attitude that none of their representatives is in the press gallery at the moment. It is a pity because that bad publicity has exacerbated the problems and led to the outside world, to people who do not live in Tallaght, having a very poor impression of the area and its people. It has led to house values in the area declining even when the market is on the increase nationally. It has led to the private sector turning a blind eye to the business and development opportunities that exist in Tallaght. I and the rest of my colleagues were very pleased today to attend the launching by an American group, AMC, of their plans for the 16 cinema multi-cinema complex for the Tallaght area. It is not the answer to all the problems or all the leisure demands, but it is significant that it has taken an American company to have confidence enough to invest their resources and to provide this facility for the people. I hope that many of their Irish counterparts will follow suit and that the business community in this country will have the confidence to invest in the Tallaght area.
I compliment the Government on their decision to designate 120 acres in the centre of Tallaght under the urban renewal scheme, bringing as it will, many tax benefits to those who locate there or are presently located there to expand and develop their business. That will play a significant role in creating the much needed job opportunities for the people who reside in Tallaght.
I also believe that if Tallaght were located 30 or 40 miles from Dublin city centre it would not be treated in the manner in which it has. It would not be seen, as it is seen at the moment by Government agencies, merely as a suburb on the outskirts of Dublin but as a town of 73,000 people with a separate identity and very particular demands. It would be seen as a town that requires a hospital and a third level college and many other facilities, and now 25 years after the development started I believe it will have those facilities.
One of the problems is that Tallaght, as well as Clondalkin, Lucan and Blanchardstown, the other new towns on the outskirts of Dublin, have had to suffer because there was no overall development authority established prior to the town being built. The failure to set up such an authority is a poor reflection on our concept of planning. Planning is not simply about building houses and putting people into them. The whole concept of building a new town means we must have an overall co-ordinated and comprehensive approach to what that town and its people will require. We have not had that in Tallaght and neither have we had it in relation to the other new towns and it is a disgrace. If we learn no other lesson from the mistakes that have been made we must now realise that before we embark on any major new town development again we must ensure that a development authority is established and that that development is co-ordinated and planned and that the much needed shopping, leisure, community, health and other facilities that are part and parcel of any town come as the people come and not many years later.
The building of the community facilities and the infrastructure in Tallaght requires a number of things. It obviously requires more money, and here I want to refer to the comments made last night by Deputy Taylor. He said that there was no point in people making fine speeches in this debate and voting for his motion if they did not follow through when the Estimates were being voted on. Even in the good days Tallaght did not get its share of the public finances and not just because the money was not there. There were times when there was money available which was being freely spent. Tallaght did not get its share of national resources because the kind of commitment that was required to give it its share never existed in any Government in this country. Not until such time as there is at the Cabinet table — and I do not mind who is in power — somebody who represents the area will Tallaght get the kind of resources it deserves.
Deputy Woods, the Minister for Social Welfare, made great play of the fact that he had allocated £63,000 this year to voluntary groups in Tallaght. I am pleased he did that, but that was not even as much money as was allocated to golf clubs in County Sligo. Nobody could say that the allocation of £63,000, in an area with the problems and disadvantages that Tallaght has had to endure is half enough money. I will not say that it is because the money goes to golf clubs outside my constituency; but even in our constituency, the Minister for Sport, Deputy Fahey, recently went out to the Slade Valley Golf Club and told them he was going to give them £15,000 towards the development of their club house. That club has £300,000 on deposit in a bank. I am not against those who play golf; indeed, I have many friends who are members of that club but it is obvious that they have a lot of clout. A couple of miles down the road from that club, the Tallaght Senior Citizens, a group of elderly people from a disadvantaged area, got together to try to build a clubhouse for their members but they were refused an allocation. Who can say that there is any justification in giving money to a private golf club and refusing money to an organisation that represents senior citizens in a disadvantaged area?
Such decisions are made because the sense of priority people have about various issues is often very different. The way the national lottery funds are being dispersed is indicative of the sense of priority certain people have. If this debate does nothing else but highlights the problems of Tallaght, an area on the outskirts of Dublin with a population of 73,000 people, many of whom have lived there for 20 years without basic infra-structural facilities, it will have been worthwhile. If it encourages Members to re-think their attitude to new towns like Tallaght we will have achieved something. I hope that when lottery funds and Government money is being distributed it will be given to areas of greatest need.
In complimenting community and voluntary organisations, particularly in the Tallaght area — reference has been made to the fact that there are 125 such organisations in Tallaght — I should like to say, on behalf of other public representatives, that if it was not for the work of those voluntary groups I shudder to think of the problems that would exist in Tallaght today. I shudder to think of the workload that Deputies and councillors for that area would have to carry if we did not have such organisations. Those groups in doing such excellent voluntary work save many of us a lot of trouble. In particular, the Tallaght Welfare Society which processed 42,000 queries last year, 75 per cent of them in relation to social welfare matters, deserve our compliments for the speedy and efficient way they are able to process the cases that go before them. They would put many Government Departments to shame.
We need to re-think the way we assist voluntary and community organisations in terms of the grant scheme that operates through local authorities. In the last five years, £950,000 has been given by Dublin County Council and the Department of the Environment to community and voluntary groups operating in the Tallaght area and 94.5 per cent of that money was in respect of bricks and mortar. The time has come to introduce a new scheme of grants, as recommended by the Tallaght Welfare Society, to help those organisations employ people and run their affairs. Those groups should be given assistance towards insurance, lighting and maintenance costs. There is little point in erecting buildings if we do not use them to the maximum.
I am pleased that the Minister for Education has made a commitment in relation to a regional college. The Minister referred to the publication today of the Clancy report on third level education. That report drew attention to the fact that the rate of participation by students in Dublin is a great deal lower than the national average. If facilities are not provided in an area, the rate of participation in either second or third level education will be lower. The existence of facilities encourages people to think in terms of third level education, it brings third level education to within the reach of many, particularly if the facility is erected in an area like Tallaght. Therefore, even if this is not accepted as a suitable project for EC funding through the Structural Funds, it must be a priority of the Government to provide that facility in Tallaght.
I should like to suggest where the finance might come from. I have calculated that if we were to build a hospital, a third level college and the schools that are necessary in the area, we would have to spend in the region of £150 million. I am no fool and I am aware that that money is not easily available. If the Structural Funds that will become available to this country in the run up to 1992 are to be of any use they must go to disadvantaged areas and I can think of no more disadvantaged area than Tallaght. If they are not suitable projects for that fund, the Ministers for Education and Health should do as has been done in relation to the new Cavan Regional Hospital, make an arrangement with Banque Nationale de Paris — that deal was struck by the previous Government — to raise a loan on foot of capital expenditure and guarantee the loan repayments. That would mean that if £150 million was borrowed on a guarantee by the Government, a figure in the region of £16,500,000 would have to be paid each year, £3,500,000 less than is paid to the unemployed in Tallaght each year. I do not think that is a huge commitment to seek from any Government. The country is not so badly off that it cannot afford that level of finance. We must have a determination and a commitment to help deprived and disadvantaged areas like Tallaght.
It is my intention to give some of my time to Deputy Mac Giolla and I note that in the amendment tabled by Members of his party there is a reference to the need to provide second level schools in Kilnamanagh-Kingswood and Jobstown. I endorse that call. The history of the Kilnamanagh-Kingswood school project is comical. The Department of Education, unsure of whether to build a school at Kingswood or Kilnamanagh, acquired two sites. They spent more than £250,000 in design fees and so on in respect of one site, a scandal if it is not their intention to build a school. If a school is not provided, 1,000 children will leave that area each day using public transport. I urge the Minister for Education to make an announcement about that project in the near future.
If Tallaght can be described as a disadvantaged area, I do not know what phrase could be used to describe Jobstown where up to 70 per cent of the people are dependent on social welfare. There is a high level of unemployment and the number of single parent families there is greater than the national average. However, unlike Kilnamanagh-Kingswood, there is a school in Jobstown. The problem there is that they do not have a building. I understand that 1,400 children are attending primary schools in the Jobstown area and if such an area does not deserve a new second level school, I do not know where we should build one. The Minister for Education, and her officials, constantly tell us of the places in adjoining schools. To them Tallaght is like a village and if there is a school at one end of the village they do not see any reason the children should not travel to it. If the position was as simple as that, we would not be objecting. Tallaght is a huge town in terms of its population and its needs. It is not possible to split up 1,400 students and expect them to travel all over the place to second level schools. If that community needs anything, it needs those students kept together in one building. They must learn geography, history, Irish and so on in the one building. The Minister may say that the numbers do not justify the erection of a second level school but the social disadvantages in that area are such that unless the Government adopt a new approach to the concept of education, they are storing up huge problems for the future. Jobstown is an obvious example of an area that could benefit under a new pilot scheme combining second level and adult education in the one building. It should be the start of new Government thinking in relation to disadvantaged areas. If the Minister goes down that road, I do not think there is anybody who will criticise her.
Yesterday, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul published their annual report and it makes frightening reading. Those of us who represent Tallaght which has a social welfare dependency rate three times the national average are well aware of the difficulties experienced by those who reside in that area and do not have adequate benefits. That situation will continue, regardless of which party is in power, whether they are of the right or of the left it does not matter, because as far as Tallaght is concerned they have all been in power and they have all failed. That situation will continue until such time as we think in new ways about the building of new towns and about areas of disadvantage. I hope this debate has started that rethink in this House. I hope that this debate, by focusing all our minds and our attention on this area of special need, will result in the much needed community facilities being developed there and will result in the establishment even now of a single development authority whose role would be a different role than the role they may have had 20 years ago. Their rule would be to go out and market Tallaght and to highlight the good points. I would say to the national media that if they were to give even half the attention to the good things in Tallaght as they do to the unpleasant things it would make all of us very happy.
Last night we saw on our national television screens yet another programme that highlighted the inadequacies and the bad sides. Tallaght does not have enough gardaí. If it were to have its national average it should have over 300. Tallaght just does not require 300 gardaí; Tallaght requires new and imaginative policies. It requires a new approach from all of us who represent the area and, in particular, it requires a new approach from Government.
