asked the Minister for Education if she will sanction the appointment of a caretaker in Rathangan vocational school, County Kildare.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Vocational School Caretaker Appointment.
9.
My Department are precluded under the terms of Government policy on public service staffing from sanctioning the appointment of additional caretaking staff by County Kildare VEC,
It is a matter for County Kildare VEC to deploy its staff numbers so as best to meet the needs of the committee's schools, including Rathangan vocational school.
The Minister's reply seems to indicate that all VECs are prevented from appointing caretakers where such an official resigns or dies but I should like to ask her if she can suggest a way that the VECs can get the resources to have the caretaking duties and cleaning of schools carried out? It is not possible for caretakers in rural areas to travel long distances from one school to another. In any event, as the Minister will agree, caretaking is a full-time occupation in all schools. Is the Minister suggesting that VECs should bring in contract cleaners and that they should privatise the system of caretaking?
No, and the Deputy appears to have taken a flight of fancy. I should like to remind the Deputy that his party were in Government when the embargo was introduced.
Not with my support.
We are continuing their embargo. The Deputy may be at variance with the views of the leadership of his party but that is a matter for himself. I must repeat that it is a matter for each VEC to deploy their resources and they can, if they consider it necessary, employ a caretaker in any of their schools if there is a crisis.
Is the Minister aware that the budgets of all VECs have been cut back by the Government, as they were by previous administrations, and that we do not know where we can find the resources to employ caretakers? The Minister does not intend to supply those resources and she has told us that if such an official leaves we cannot employ a replacement, but how are we to clean our schools? Will the Minister tell us how we are to perform that miracle?
This is leading to repetition and argument.
I should like to suggest that a close scrutiny of the staffing requirements of County Kildare VEC will reveal some latitude for redeployment.
We do not have any latitude in regard to this. Is the Minister aware that children have to clean the schools and that teachers are using valuable time doing the work of caretakers?
I am not aware of that.
Does the Minister condone that?
Will the Minister accept that this problem is not peculiar to Rathangan in County Kildare but is common in almost every county? The Minister has said that it was due to a policy decision taken before the change of Government, but I suggest to her that a change of Government might also bring about a change of policy. Will the Minister agree that it is not sensible to leave public buildings, erected at enormous expense to the taxpayers, without adequate caretaking services? The Minister has an obligation to provide for those services and not to deal with the problem by writing polite letters to VECs. Will the Minister agree that she has an obligation to protect such public buildings?
We are dealing with a specific question concerning Rathangan school and I will not allow an extension of that question.
I should like to tell Deputy Quill, the spokesperson on Education for the Progressive Democrats, that she combed this land prior to the general election with her manifesto of cut, cut, cut public expenditure. Today she has the gall to propose the very opposite but only when it suits her. That does not make any sense.
What did Fianna Fáil say to the people before the last election?
Do the Progressive Democrats want to increase the number of public servants? If so, they should say so.
(Interruptions.)