I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £4,570,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1981, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Education (including Institutions of Science and Art), for certain miscellaneous educational and cultural services and for payment of sundry grants-in-aid.
Tagaim i láthair inniu chun meastacháin fhorlíontacha a chur os comhair na Dála do cheithre cinn de na Vótaí Oideachais, mar atá: Vóta an Aire Oideachais; Vóta an Mheanoideachais; Vóta an Ghairmoideachais, agus Vóta an Árdoideachais.
Bhí os cionn £688 milliúin sna bunmheastacháin Oideachais imbliana, agus sé an t-iomlán breise atá á iarraidh agam leis na meastacháin fhorlíontacha seo ná £31,211,000. Ní gá dom a rá gurb é seo an soláthar iomlán is mó, i bhfad, a cuireadh ar fáil don oideachas ó Chiste an Stáit ariamh.
The original net estimates for the Votes for the Office of the Minister for Education, Secondary Education, Vocational Education and Higher Education for 1981 were: Vote 30: Office of the Minister for Education, £43,470,000; Vote 32: Secondary Education, £184,451,000; Vote 33: Vocational Education, £104,322,000; Vote 35: Higher Education, £69,697,000.
The following additional amounts are now required:
Vote 30: Office of the Minister for Education: a Supplementary Estimate of £4,670,000 making a total provision of £48,140,000 for this Vote.
Vote 32: Secondary Education: a Supplementary Estimate of £2,953,000 making a total provision of £187,404,000 for this Vote
Vote 33: Vocational Education: a Supplementary Estimate of £8,846,000 making a total provision of £113,168,000 for this Vote; and
Vote 35: Higher Education: a Supplementary Estimate of £14,742,000 making a total provision of £84,439,000 for this Vote.
The total net amount now sought for these Votes is £31,211,000. The additional money is required for two main reasons, first as a rescue package to meet the shortfall in a number of services arising from an inadequate provision in the original estimates and, second, to provide funds for the improvements which I have introduced since taking up office. Before informing the House of the details of the additional moneys required, I want to draw attention to a number of matters.
First, I want to emphasise the fact that an additional £31,211,000 is being sought for education through these supplementaries. I do so because when introducing recently a Private Members' motion, my predecessor in office stated that I should resign if I failed to get sufficient money from the Department of Finance. Such a suggestion ill becomes the person whose failure to get sufficient money in the January budget to fully meet the cost of the education services this year has made the introduction of so much of this Supplementary Estimate necessary. Because of that failure, it falls on me to bring these Supplementary Estimates before this House.
Despite the daunting financial and economic problems bequeathed by the former administration, I am happy to have succeeded in securing the sanction of the Minister for Finance, and the Government, to bring these Supplementary Estimates before the House for its approval. Facts are facts and the basic fact is that our educational services will benefit this year to the tune of an additional £31,211,000, through the decision of my Government. Despite the severe financial restraint which has to be exercised in all public expenditure, the Government agreed as one of their first decisions, to make education a special priority for investment. The present supplementaries are a tangible proof of that commitment.
As I have just stated there are two main reasons why it was necessary for me to bring these Supplementary Estimates before the House. The first main reason, of course, is the grossly inadequate provision in the original Estimate prepared by the former administration. The extent of the additional moneys required for some of the services, for example, the universities and other third level institutions under the aegis of the HEA, in Vote 35 and vocational education in Vote 33 is of such dimension that it is clear that there was serious under-provision. I am asking the House to approve my proposal to make an additional £8,905,000 available to the universities, and other designated institutions. This represents an increase in percentage terms of 15.8 per cent — sufficient proof of the under-financing in the original estimates. The position is so serious that without this money, the universities would not be able to meet the salary and wages bill before the end of the year. One can only reflect with wonder at the thinking behind a Government which, at the beginning of 1981, left the universities under-provided by as much as 15.8 per cent for this year. Indeed the situation which I found upon assuming office was so bad that two of the universities informed me that their bankers had indicated that they would refuse to honour the university's cheques from September, last.
This intolerable situation obviously could not have been allowed to happen and, consequently, following an urgent meeting which I had with the university heads, the Government agreed to my proposal that these rescue moneys should be designated, subject to the agreement of the Dáil. I should mention that at a subsequent meeting which I had with the university presidents, and where the frustration of the colleges at the hand-to-mouth situation which they had found themselves placed in became apparent. I proposed that the colleges themselves should prepare a four-year forward plan for their requirements. This they agreed to do and I understand that the work in this matter is progressing. It would be my hope that such plans, prepared realistically, will provide the framework whereby the Government and the universities can together chart the vitally necessary course to be followed over those four years and that the confidence which has now been restored through my Government's action in rescuing the colleges from the plight in which they had been placed can be developed upon.
A similar situation to that in which the universities found themselves also arose in the case of the vocational education committees, necessitating some £3,500,000 of the total of £6,650,000 now required in order to meet the needs of subhead A of Vote 33 — Grants to Vocational Education Committees. Again upon assuming office we found that serious underprovision for the pressing needs of vocational education had been made in the 1981 Estimates prepared by our predecessors. A number of the committees were running out of money and, indeed, were having difficulty in arranging sufficient bank overdraft accommodation to enable them to continue their operations.
Indeed, in the case of the City of Dublin Vocational Committee, operating 21 schools as well as the six colleges, which colleges I am happy to take this opportunity to officially recognise as being, collectively, the Dublin Institute of Technology, the situation became so serious that the committee had to hold a series of special meetings throughout the year to work out how to cope with the crisis created by the shortfall in the initial allocation. These meetings, the first of which was held in March of this year, were followed by extensive discussions with officials in the Department about the range of problems to be faced. The reality was that the committee had been given a non-pay allocation which was actually lower than that given in each year from 1978 on, this despite the considerable expansion which had taken place in the second level schools, third level colleges and in the adult education programme.
Immediately on coming into office I met with the chairman and CEO of that committee so as to ascertain the extent of their difficulties. It was immediately obvious that a sum in excess of £2,000,000 would be necessary if the City of Dublin VEC were to survive to the end of 1981. Similarly other VECs indicated sizeable shortfalls in their allocations for this financial year. Consequently, in the case of the vocational committees it became readily apparent that another rescue operation, similar to that mounted for the universities, was virtually necessary in this area also. It was for this reason that the Government agreed also that additional moneys should be sought for subhead A of Vote 33.
The third main area of under-financing which my Government inherited in the Department of Education falls under subhead D.3. of Vote 30, which is intended to finance the operation of the school transport scheme. Not only was this school transport vote grossly under-provided for but, in fact, the figure allocated by the previous Government of £20 million for 1981 was actually £2.4 million less than the amount actually spent in 1980. How anybody could have countenanced the suggestion that a figure reduced by £2.4 million would have financed the operation of the transport service for a full 12-month period is difficult to believe.
How, when we, then in Opposition, questioned the adequacy of the provision could have been given an assurance as to its sufficiency is virtually incredible.
The factual situation was, of course, that the moneys allocated at the beginning of 1981 would have enabled the school transport service to operate only until the end of October last. The only reason that there are school buses on the road this morning, is because again my Government had to agree to a bailing-out operation to the tune of £5.05 million so as to keep the buses on the road. The remaining £180,000 of the total £5,230,000 now sought under subhead D.3. of Vote 30 is for the purchase of a further 15 mini-buses. In all this the total amount sought represents an increase of 26.1 per cent compared with the original moneys provided.
So much for the failures and mistakes which were left to us to pick up the tabs for. I do not want to comment anymore about this unhappy episode in the financial allocation for educational services except to say that I trust it will never happen again.
Let us turn now to the positive improvements which have been introduced since the Government took office and in respect of which portion of this Supplementary Estimate is necessary. The higher education grants which had not been increased since 1979 were substantially increased from £600 to £1,000 at the maximum value. This unprecedented increase of 66? per cent takes effect from the present academic year. The maximum income limit for eligibility has been increased from £6,100 to £14,000 and for fee and maintenance grants it has been increased from £6,100 to £12,000 in the case of larger families. The income limit for fee and maintenance grants for smaller families has been increased to £8,000. The previous limit was £4,400. Fee grants will be payable in the case of smaller families with an income of up to £9,000 per annum. Persons whose family income derives from a holding of rateable valuation not exceeding £64 compared with £35 PLV previously for the purpose of the means test are eligible for maximum maintenance and lecture fee benefits while for a lower rate of grant the maximum rateable valuation has been raised from £50 to £96. Fee grants may be paid in the case of larger families with rateable valuations up to a maximum of £112. The previous maximum was £50.
The restriction on the number of third level scholarships awarded by vocational educational committees has been lifted. From the current academic year, there will no longer be a restriction on the number of scholarships to be awarded. The increased cost in the current year of these massively significant increases by any standards is estimated at £2.35 million. However, as payment is made retrospectively to the local authorities, in respect of the grants awarded by them, a sum of £1,084,000 only falls for payment this year in respect of grants to students in training colleges, and scholarships and ESF grants awarded by vocational educational committees.
The value of the ESF grant is being increased from £600 to £1,000. The estimated cost of this increase will be £450,000 in 1981 and £1.5 million in 1982. In making this decision I was conscious of the fact that had the ESF grant stood at its present amount, £600, more students would be influenced to opt for the grant or scholarship under the higher education grants and VEC scholarship scheme and therefore in some cases embark on an educational course for which they are academically less apt and which perhaps would lead to a qualification less urgently required by the economy. My decision likewise prevents a situation which would be seriously prejudicial to the size of enrolments in classes organised under the ESF scheme.
There has been much talk about unemployment among national teachers. What are the facts? Provision for the 300 extra posts required in order to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in national schools was cut out of the original estimate by the former Government. But as we all know only too well by now, my predecessor in office some few days before the new Government came into office announced that the necessary improvements in the schedule for appointing teachers in national schools would take effect from the school year. His administration did not have to find the money, nor did they try.
At my request the Government agreed to the recruitment of approximately 300 additional teachers in the current school year for the purpose of reducing the pupil-teacher ratio in national schools. This decision was taken despite the serious state of the country's economy and in particular the alarming deficit in public expenditure on current account.
In addition, the Government agreed to exclude teachers from the embargo on additional recruitment in the public sector. This decision, one more proof of the Government's commitment to education, enables an additional 300 teachers to be recruited in national schools for the purpose of catering for the extra pupils entering national schools.
I should explain that the reason why a supplementary estimate to fund the payment of salaries to these teachers is not necessary is that the arbitrator's award for substantial increases in the allowances payable to principals, vice-principals and post holders was not submitted in time to enable these payments to be made in the current financial year, as well as other general readjustments within the Vote.
I am seeking the approval of the Dáil for an additional £300,000 under subhead A.3. of Vote 32 — Secondary Education — for the purpose of providing additional moneys for computers and for science and other equipment grants in secondary schools.
This represents an increase of 80 per cent over the provision in the original estimate and is a measure of my commitment to the development of computerisation and the provision of adequate science and other equipment in our post-primary schools. It is a massive increase by any standards and it will enable me to double the allocation for computers made available by the former administration for the secondary area. In this regard, I should like to inform the House that as a result of my decision to arrange on behalf of the post-primary schools for the bulk purchasing of the computers by my Department, I expect that the substantial discounts available will enable me to provide computers for many more schools than anticipated.
I have further decided to set aside £30,000 in subhead H.1. of Vote 32 — the running costs of Comprehensive and Community Schools — and £70,000 in subhead A. of Vote 33 — Grants to Vocational Education Committees — for the purchase of computers for comprehensive, community and vocational schools. The total amount which is being made available this year for this purpose therefore is £200,000.
The bulk purchase arrangement which I have just referred to has resulted in a most attractive package of micro-computer hardware, software, and back-up material now being offered to 105 post primary schools.
For the benefit of the House I should like to set out details of what will be supplied under the scheme. Each school will be supplied with a Basic Apple 2 System, a 16K language card, two disk drives, a 12 inch monitor and a printer. The system will be supported by an adequate supply of software and high quality documentation. An important aspect is that the micro will have a communications interface card which will provide a facility for communication with other computers. A pleasing feature of the provision of the micro-computers is that they are assembled in Cork by Irish labour. Moreover, the company supplying the printer has a manufacturing base in Drogheda. I am convinced of the urgent, indeed overdue, need to have such facilities and trained teachers available in all of our post primary schools.
The world is experiencing a technological revolution. We must, for the future of our country, be prepared to adapt and respond to that change. We must ensure that our young people are to the forefront in the development of what has become known as the information society. We must consequently be prepared to utilise the tools of that technological revolution to equip them to meet that challenge, not with fear or apprehension but in the knowledge that this country, already marketed by the IDA in the United States as "the Silicon Valley of Europe", can respond to the great opportunities which being to the forefront in this change can provide.
I regret that the task that was given to me was to commence the public funding of computers at the upper end of the post-primary level. At this stage we should be considering putting the basic tools of this technological revolution into the upper end of primary school education. It is my hope that within the lifetime of my ministry I shall be in a position to embark on that project. If we do not respond to computerisation or to the information society we are lost as a nation.
A sum of £200,000 is sought under subhead A.2. of Vote 32 — Secondary Education. The purpose of this requirement is to enable a substantially increased grant to be made to Protestant schools because of the special nature of their problems in providing education for Protestant pupils. In a full financial year the cost will be £500,000. I am satisfied that an injection of funds to this extent should solve most of the financial problems of the Protestant schools.
Under subhead H.2. of Vote 33 — Vocational Education — I am seeking the approval of the House for the provision of an additional £2,350,000 capital moneys for regional technical colleges. £2.0 million of this sum is sought for the purchase of a site for a new RTC in the Greater Dublin area. The total budget for capital works this year is £81.778 million — an increase of £2.478 million on the original estimate. This is an all-time record for capital expenditure in education.
Under subhead C. of Vote 32 — Secondary Education — and under subhead E. of Vote 33 — Vocational Education, I am seeking an additional £849,000. The bulk of this money is to meet the increased fees paid to examiners and superintendents of the public examinations arising from a recent arbitration award which the Government, despite the extremely difficult position of the public finances, agreed to honour.
I have decided that a national development plan for adult and continuing education should be drawn up. The purpose of the plan will be to chart the course of adult education over the next few years. The plan will formulate national adult education policies and identify adult education priorities. With a view to the production of the development plan, I have set up a commission which I expect will advise on the proper structures and mechanisms for the immediate implementation and efficient administration of the plan, which will represent a landmark in the development of adult education in this country.
The following details set out the situation in relation to the additional amounts required for the purpose of the individual Votes.
Vote 30: Office of the Minister for Education: An additional sum of £750,000 is required for subhead A1 to meet the cost this year of various awards granted under conciliation and arbitration. Pay awards also account for the increase of £375,000 in the provision for grants towards clerical assistance for national and secondary schools under subhead D.8. An extra £40,000 is required to meet an increase in the amount provided to voluntary organisations for grants towards the employment of development officers under subhead D.10.
Under subhead A.2. an extra £282,000 is being sought for travelling and incidental expenses. Of this, £150,000 is required to meet improved rates of travelling and subsistence and an increase in the level of travelling following on the appointment of 17 additional inspectors. The £124,000 extra required for the miscellaneous expenses of the Department under subhead A.2. 3 (II) is chiefly due to increased costs. £8,000 extra is sought for the Department's staff training and development programmes.
An extra £34,500 is required under subhead A.3. (1) to meet increases in the cost of the Department's computer facilities. This is offset by a saving of £10,500 in the other two sub-divisions of the subhead making a net additional requirement of £24,000 for subhead A.3.
£42,000 extra is needed under subhead B1 — International Activities — mainly to meet increased costs due to variations in international rates of exchange.
Improvements in the grants and scholarships schemes account for increases of £75,000 under subhead C.2. and £34,000 under subhead D.6.
I propose to make an additional £50,000 available under subhead D.4. for technological aids. This extra allocation will enable my Department to reconsider a number of applications for grants which could not be dealt with earlier in the year because the amount provided in the estimate was entirely inadequate.
£5,000 each is required for development schemes for the National Library and the National Museum under subhead E.4. and F.4. These are mostly additional pay costs.
A further £15,000 is required for subhead F.1. the grant-in-aid fund for the purchase of specimens for the National Museum to enable the museum to make an additional purchase which would otherwise almost certainly leave the country.
The extra £15,000 for subhead F.2. will enable the museum to replace obsolete equipment and to provide some additional new equipment. £10,000 will go towards the restoration of furniture in the Art and Industrial Division and the Folklife Division of the museum. This is made possible by a grant from the Charles E. Merrill Trust, Ithaca, New York, which is included in the increased appropriations-in-aid in this Supplementary Estimate.
An additional £77,400 is required to enable the Royal Irish Academy of Music to meet additional pay costs.
An additional £20,000 is being made available for subhead G.3. — the Grant-In-Aid Fund for Youth and Sports Organisations.
£38,000 extra is required under subhead G.4. for Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann to enable them to meet increases in pay of £11,000 and other costs of £27,000.
The total net additional sum required for the Vote for the Office of the Minister for Education is £4,570,000.
Vote 32: Secondary Education: Provision is included in the Supplementary Estimate for the Vote for Secondary Education under subhead A.3. for an extra £200,000 which, as I mentioned earlier, I have made available this year to Protestant schools in the free post primary education scheme. The total extra provision in the present school year is £500,000.
The extra £300,000 for subhead A3 the subhead for science and other equipment grants will enable my Department to deal with the large back-log of applications for grants that has built up as a result of inadequate funding of this scheme last year and this year. I have already referred to the £100,000 of the total amount available in the subhead which I have allocated for grants towards the provision of computers in secondary schools, quite apart from the extra moneys for these facilities in community and comprehensive schools.
An additional sum of £728,000 is being provided under subhead C., mainly to meet the increases in fees and travelling expenses to examiners and superintendents at the intermediate and leaving certificate examinations.
The redistribution of capital has enabled me to provide an additional £2,225,000 for comprehensive and community schools. The additional provision is required to meet expenditures under the ongoing programme related to the provision of community schools/ community colleges at places such as Ayrfield, Rathcoole, Willington, Ballyvolane, Killininny, Palmerston, Ballywaltrim, Rosmini, Carrigaline, and extension at Carndonagh as well as the provision of physical education halls at: Bishopstown, Birr, The Donahies, Old Bawn, Springfield and Cabinteely.
The total additional amount required for the vote for secondary education is £2,953,000.
Vote 33: Vocational Education: This Supplementary Estimate makes provision under subhead A for additional grants to vocational education committees to enable them to meet increased costs of salaries, wages and employers' social welfare contributions amounting to £2,200,000 and increases in running costs of £4,450,000. The additional amount required for running costs includes sums amounting to £950,000 for improvements in scholarships provided by vocational education committees and ESF grants tenable at third level institutions of education in line with the improvements in the higher education grants scheme to which I referred earlier.
Provision is also included under subhead H.1. for an extra £1,650,000 to meet similar costs for regional technical colleges — £1,300,000 for salaries et cetera and £350,000 for other expenses.
An additional £75,000 is required under subhead B. to meet extra pay costs amounting to £50,000 at colleges of home economics and improved rates of maintenance grants to students costing £25,000.
The extra £121,000 under subhead E is mainly required for the purpose of meeting the increases in fees to examiners and superintendents at the group certificate, technical schools and block release examinations which were recommended by the arbitrator.
An additional £2,350,000 is being provided under subhead H.2. This will enable the site for the new regional technical college at Carriglea Park to be purchased, a major rationalisation programme at Carlow RTC to be completed and a fabrication workshop at Waterford RTC and an engineering workshop at Sligo RTC to be provided.
The total additional amount required for the Vote for vocational education is £10,846,000. This amount is offset by additional receipts amounting to £2,000,000 from the European Social Fund leaving the net additional sum required at £8,846,000.
Vote 35: Higher Education: The provision of £10,000 for subhead A.1. is to meet additional pay costs.
The extra amount of £8,905,000 for subhead A.2. is required to meet salary and other inescapable non-pay running costs in National University; University College, Dublin; University College, Cork; University College, Galway; Maynooth College; Trinity College; Bord an Choláiste Náisiúnta Ealaíne is Deartha, National Council for Educational Awards, National Institute of Higher Education, Limerick, National Institute of Higher Education, Dublin, Royal Irish Academy and Thomond College of Education — a litany of disaster, a litany of underprovision right through all of the third level institutions for which sufficient provision was not made in the original Estimate. These costs must now be met and it falls to my Government to pick up the tab.
An additional sum of £6,168,000 is required for capital purposes under subhead A3. This extra money is required to meet the cost of on-going building projects in the universities, the National Institutes of Higher Education, Limerick and Dublin, the National College of Art and Design and Thomond College of Education.
An extra £7,000 is needed under subhead A5 for the Central Applications Office to meet additional costs incurred in reprocessing application forms following on the improvements to the grants for higher education. The sum of £114,000 being provided for the Dublin Dental Hospital under subhead B is for additional salary costs.
An extra £38,000 is required for the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies — £23,000 for pay and £15,000 for rent increases which had not been included in the original provision for subhead E. The total net additional sum required for the Vote for Higher Education is £14,742,000.
From the foregoing I hope it will be clear that these Supplementary Estimates seek to provide in two basic areas the substantial shortfall of the original Estimate requiring in the main some £26.497 million in rescue moneys, together with £4.714 millions necessary to implement the improvements introduced by the new Government.
There is also a supplementary provision amounting to £48,000 required for Vote 36, the National Gallery. The following additional amounts are required: Subhead A., Salaries: An additional £41,000 is required to meet the cost of Labour Court awards to attendants and professional staff to maintain parity with similar officers in the Museum and library. An extra £7,000 is required for subhead B to meet a shortfall in the original provision.
I commend the Supplementary Estimates to the House.
