A Cheann Comhairle, if I had been treated with the same respect as that shown to a Government Deputy I would have withdrawn this matter. I have been told by an unofficial source that the Minister has reacted to the pressure brought to bear on him by the INTO, the teachers who are threatening the industrial action on Friday and the Private Notice Question I put down to him on Monday.
It is distasteful that teachers should be forced, by pressures beyond their control, to threaten industrial action in order to get what they believe they are entitled to. We entrust teachers with the responsibility of caring for our children in the community. I do not need to tell the House that good teachers are very responsible. They do not wish to get involved in street politics, industrial action or any other activities which they would not regard as normal in a civilised society.
Any inaction by the Government which forces teachers to go on strike has to be called into question. The teachers of Milford national school have been told by successive Ministers for Education about the plans for the development of the school. Because these plans have been put on the back burner once too often, the teachers, who are totally frustrated, decided in consultation with the INTO, to take industrial action. I know many of these teachers personally and they are upright citizens whom the local community respect. Their services are very much appreciated by the local community.
I have had the unpleasant experience of visiting that school, which is in an appalling state. To use a cliché, it would make people in darkest Africa blush with shame; the conditions there are more akin to conditions in schools in the Third World. This school which was built to cater for 90 pupils and five teachers now has an enrolment of 270 pupils and ten teachers. There are no proper sanitary facilities in the school and the conditions have been condemned by a senior official of the North-Eastern Health Board.
Do the Department of Education officials fully appreciate the conditions which must be tolerated by teachers and pupils in schools in rural Ireland? During my time in this House I have heard many Members say that the most reactionary Department of State is the Department of Education — it cannot be told anything; it knows it all. There appears to be a lack of appreciation at the most senior level of the need to toe the line. Irish people do not mind paying taxes in order that proper schools can be provided for their children. However, I am puzzled as to why proper schools are not being provided. I am annoyed that pressure has to be brought to to bear on the Department of Education before it makes a decision.
I know the Minister will give the House the good news I have heard through the grapevine, but it would have been much more pleasant and more in line with parliamentary democracy if she had given me a copy of the statement she gave to the Government Deputy from my constituency. I do not believe in stroke politics as they will not get us anywhere. It was said recently that if Deputy McDaid put the ball in the net he should get the credit for doing so. Some people who put the ball in the net are not regarded as skilled footballers. Very often they are lazy people who do not do very much work; they fall into the poaching category, they are called good poachers. There are far too many Deputies in this House who fall into that category. They should get on with the job.
