I am benevolent at times. I very seldom came here in any spirit of criticism, even in the Minister's predecessors' time. I want to be as helpful as I can. There are many facets of the educational field generally. You can apply education to practically all phases of life, and to young and old. In a more or less selfish way, I suppose, I want to confine myself to the needs, as I see them, of my city and my region. I do not believe entirely in regionalisation but I do agree with it where education is concerned.
We will be discussing regionalisation at another time, I presume. It can be very dangerous and very inhuman but where education is concerned I am 100 per cent behind it. It is the only answer. In our approach to regionalisation we must not forget the teacher-pupil relationship that comes from the national school level. We must have the confidence of the pupil in the teacher and we must have communication between the teacher and the pupil if we are to produce the end product at university or academic level, or within the crafts.
In his Estimate this year the Minister has poured an extra £18 million into education. I know that if it were possible that figure would be doubled and trebled. It is a long time since we had such an approach to our educational problems and to the advancement of education as we have in the Estimate. It goes back to the late Tom Derrig who projected such a powerful image in this field. Of course, he had open ground to plough and it was easily done. It is difficult today when there is so much competition and when there are advances whether computerised, or "electronicised", or any other "ised". We are moving in a field of education today which was unforeseeable ten or 15 years ago. I am glad we have a Minister with the capacity and the grit and the ability to tackle the problems presented in 1973. We are lucky to have him and may God spare him long days to be with us.
I am glad the Minister has stressed the fact that we must have dialogue, consultation, talk—call it what you will. To me it is parsed and analysed in one sentence, that is, communication between the four involvements: school management, parents, teachers, students. When we have—as the Minister has set out to achieve—equality of motive, equality of thought and discussion at that level, there is no fear that I can see for the future of education in a European competitive field.
We will have disagreements, expected and unexpected, during these talks. Around the table is the place for solutions rather than, as we had from Fianna Fáil, teachers' and pupils' strikes. Every now and then students carrying strike banners parade outside the College of Art. I know a little about students who make art their career, because a nephew of mine teaches art in Kilkenny. Many students are wasting the time and money of their parents and, in my view, should be sent to Grangegorman for an IQ test. This is a phase they are going through. Not until they pull themselves out of the College of Art or their parents' money runs out will they realise what education is all about.
I wish to discuss a matter which, I am sure, is dear to everybody, and that is the rehabilitation of the handicapped child. Much has been said about the education of the handicapped. "Handicapped" means many things. It can be severe, mild, physical or mental. As a finance-raiser in Limerick for the handicapped school, I found what I had to do degrading.
The late Donnchadha O'Malley and myself organised crazy football matches—O'Malley v. Coughlan. We organised flag days, dances and church collections to raise money to provide a school and transport for the handicapped children. At the time it was topical for O'Malley and Coughlan to clash and we exploited that. We raised enough money to buy a minibus and open a school, which was kindly given to us by the late Bishop of Limerick, Dr. Murphy. We did this by voluntary effort. That was a shame and a disgrace to the Fianna Fáil Government. Let them never forget that. We went around Limerick on Church Holydays and asked people to help those unfortunate children. This should not be done by any outside organisation but rather by the Department of Education. The Deputies who come here moaning and groaning should remember their history and what they have done in this field.
Having advised Deputy Power on the rehabilitation of the blind, I should now like the Minister to make some contribution towards the cost of lead dogs. A trained lead dog costs something in the region of £200. German shepherds and labradors can be trained to lead the blind and from what I have seen they are more intelligent than many people imagine.
Mention was made of racecourses and bookmakers. There is a blind telephonist at the regional head post office in Limerick and nothing gives him more pleasure than going to race-meetings within the Limerick area. He goes with his wife to Limerick Junction, Clonmel and Limerick Races on his days off and enjoys every bit of it. I cannot understand people who say that nothing is being done. If they make up their minds that something can be done, they should go ahead and do it and not come here complaining, morning, noon and night, when it is within their own capacity to do something about it.
I want to congratulate the Minister for Education and the Minister for Health on the provision of a school in Limerick for the Brothers of Charity—I should not call it a school but a village. The Minister for Health turned the sod one day last week. £2 million has been spent on this scheme for the provision of accommodation for handicapped children. The Minister's predecessors would get a paralytic stroke if they thought, or it was suggested, that that amount should be spent on this development. The Minister has done it and we thank him for it. The £2 million to the Brothers of Charity was made up in different ways. The health board, the Department of Health and the Department of Education are making up this money. There will be the usual sheltered workshops and the general rehabilitation programmes from the day they enter this school until they leave as first-class people in whatever craft they wish to take. Much has been achieved, if the blind would only consent to see. I cannot take the jaundice from the yellow eye and there is no use trying to convince these people that these things can be done. They can be done and they are being done. Let us remember that.
I should like to touch on the subject of the backward child. While some of us were front-runners in our own class at school, there were others who tailed off. These were human beings also and something should have been done to help them. I know classes are graded A, B, C, honours and pass, but there is more to it than that. There is a vacuum between the D class and the E or F class. We must be careful not to embarrass the pupil or give him a complex which would jeopardise his future and his adult life. Students and children can develop an inferiority complex which may remain with them throughout their lives. This is something we must avoid in the case of backward pupils. The front runner is OK, although many front runners fall by the wayside because they learn too easily. The pupils in the centre who have to work hard in order to pass an examination are the ones who ultimately succeed. They have to stay up half the night studying Euclid, Cicero, Shakespeare. We all studied these things long ago and were receptive enough to what was being stuffed into our heads.
The backward pupil must not be allowed to develop an inferiority complex. He must be allowed to develop at his own pace. It is a pity that Deputy Power is not here. He realises that the racehorse who wins at the Curragh and the donkey that takes milk to the creamery both work to the best of their capacity. We must all work according to our capacity. If we were all the same, the world would become a lunatic asylum. I would advise the Minister to apply himself to the problem of the backward student. We all know of boys and girls who are not able to keep pace with the other students and who when they leave school feel that they are behind everybody else. My concept of education is that it should prepare children for the battle of life.
There is the case of the wayward child who commits some offence. He is brought to the court and given the benefit of the First Offenders Act. He commits a second offence and receives a warning from the district justice. The day comes when action has to be taken and he is sent to a reform school, to Daingean or some filthy hole. In some cases, because of the fact that there is no room in a reform school, the boy is sent to the nearest prison. This environment is all wrong. We must set about the rehabilitation of the wayward. It is not an easy task. One may try to coax or nurse a wayward boy or to take him away from his associates, to no avail. There should be a course of psychiatry to help these wayward children from the age of 12 to 18. Such a course would be designed to teach them that they must conform to normal standards. There is some want in these children. We all know of cases where that want does not come from the parents. There are children who get into trouble every day of the week. They steal or they absent themselves from school. They stay out at night. They are a continuous worry to their parents. These children feel that they are rejected by society. They are stubborn. Some means of handling this section of our community should be devised.
There is a problem in regard to school books. When I attended school the fee was one penny a week. The Christian Brothers fought a hard battle. They upheld their identity. They refused to be taken over by a foreign government. They brought education to the people. They did a tremendous job. At that time the school books could be used from one year to the next. Boys leaving a class could pass their books on to those coming into that class. Today the school books change every year. A school book may cost £5. Next year the books will be changed again. I would suggest that the books we used in the early twenties were as good as, if not better than, the school books available today but they were much less expensive. The Minister should make things easy for parents by stipulating that over a period of four or five years the school books would not be changed. For instance, in the school in Plessey they are doing Russian. I had to pay £6 last week for a book in Russian which was not obtainable in Limerick or Cork. It is one of the languages my daughter is pursuing at the moment. It is all very well if one has the £6. A new penny or a five pence piece is not very much to have, but it is a "helluva" lot to want. We must consider those who want. There are unfortunate people who cannot afford things and they deserve to be considered.
With regard to Irish history, it has been said, possibly with some degree of truth, that history is the lie that has been agreed on. I think there is a great deal of truth in that. Only out of the past, out of the achievements of our ancestors, can we provide for the present and look forward to the future. Our glorious past and all the toils and tribulations of our forebears should not be wiped out as if they were a bad debt. Children should be taught about these things in the classroom and in the sanctity of the home. We should never forget the achievements of those who went before us.
We have our so-called modern historians. One sees them in print and one hears them on the media. Some of the history they produce is quite unrelated to our culture and our traditions. We must hold on to our culture and our traditions just as we should hold on to whatever we have at the present time, because it is on what we have and do today that we will be adjudged by those who follow us. Let us take inspiration from the past and let us follow the example of those who were prepared to pay so much. These are my views and I am quite certain I am not alone in them. We must cherish the past. I would appeal to the Minister to keep this aspect in mind in the curriculum.
We are well provided with decent, up-to-date schools. Where schools are not what they should be—we have heard people talking about rat-infested schools, broken doors and windows and roofs in need of repair—nobody is responsible for that position except the local representative. He is the man who should set about rectifying that situation where it exists. If he acts as he should—I do not care what party he belongs to—I am sure the Minister will give his representations the same weight that he gave to the representations in regard to Dún Chaoin.
Local organisations should apply themselves to these things and, if they do not do so, then any defects that exist can be laid at their doors. If it does not come from the ground it will not come down from the sky. That is my advice to those who come in here shouting their heads off about what should or should not be done in our schools.
There are all kinds of anomalies where free transport is concerned. It is left to the county CEO, the manager or two or three other people to decide whether or not children should have free transport. A half empty bus will pass by five or six children and half-a-mile further along it will pick up five or six children. They are all attending the same school and the five the bus passes by must trudge wearily along in its wake. There is no flexibility. The quads are going to school but, because they are not attending the same school that their older brothers and sisters attended, they will not get free transport.
I made representations on their behalf and I was turned down. I was told they were not within the catchment area. Who draws the line? There are too many faceless people involved. One approaches one person and is told to see somebody else and when one approaches that person one is referred to someone else again. One is like a fool in a fog. These unfortunate children have to trudge the road in winter rain and frost and snow. They could easily be transported by bus. There is no sense in this and I would ask the Minister to put an end to this practice. The bus is there and if there is room in it the children should be allowed to travel on it. I am completely against the present selectivity. This is not what I mean when I talk about Irish tradition and culture and the education of our children. I take a strong view on this. I would ask the Minister to rectify this classification as between one and another. This is what has destroyed this country.
Pupil guidance is an innovation and is most welcome. In the past what mattered was the wealth of the parents. I knew of people who spent from ten to 20 years trying to qualify from the College of Surgeons, Trinity College or from the National University. They were able to spend all these years in college solely because their parents could provide for them although one wonders about the end product. It is essential for teachers and parents to come together and do what is best for the children. It is not a question of what the adults want. What is important is to ensure that the children are placed in a situation best suited to their talents. The ambitions of the parents are not important; what counts is what the student is capable of and where he will make most progress.
This country has recently begun to realise the importance of the skilled trades. They are as good as, if not better than, the professions, and we are all glad about this. The people in the trades may not have to wear a collar and tie, they may have to go to work early each morning, but they have as much in their pay packet as the alleged professionals or academics. Career guidance can play a major part in helping young people make their decisions regarding their jobs. Certainly, these courses should be able to place the young people where they are most suited. If a man is content in his work he will be successful. Otherwise he will be a misfit, or a "spoiled priest" as we said long ago. The only way we can ensure that we do not have misfits is by providing an adequate guidance course.
I should like to refer to a topic that might be called "the plum of the day". I should like to congratulate the Minister on what he has done for Limerick city and region. He has given a sum of £18 million for the Limerick Institute and I am glad that the headquarters are in Limerick city. However, it is not a Limerick city effort. It will cater for the region and for the West of Ireland. I am glad that we have the daughter of the Parliamentary Secretary from Mayo as well as many other people from the west of the country in this institute. I am pleased the Minister has gone a step further and has done what his predecessors promised but failed to do. When they were faced with the situation they funked it. The justice of our cause has been shown beyond doubt. We fought this matter in Marlborough Street and in this House, and we debated it throughout the region involved. We always got the usual answer "it will be done" from Fianna Fáil. They did nothing and if anyone says otherwise he is guilty of an utter deception. The Minister has done something for the Limerick region for which he will gain personal credit. I am glad to pay tribute to him today; otherwise I should be lacking in responsibility.
The Limerick project will cater for 6,000 students and Fianna Fáil should think about this. The previous Minister for Education yesterday gave us a litany of the dead for 3½ hours although I did not listen to all he had to say. All the troubles and turmoil of the world had nothing on what he had to say. He repeated ad nauseam what he did when he was in office but as far as Limerick is concerned he just turned his back on the area. He was not alone in this because his predecessors did the same.
I would ask the Minister to meet the Limerick University Project Committee as early as possible perhaps, with the public representatives. I have not discussed this matter with the Minister; I am only judging him by his actions and they speak much louder than words. We should be very clear what a university means to a region. I am not going to discuss this matter because the advantages of a university should be obvious, even to Fianna Fáil.
I wish the Minister a long term in office. I hope when the Taoiseach is selecting his Cabinet after the next election he will not overlook the excellent work carried out by the Minister.