I see the 1989 Estimates more as a holding operation than a serious effort to make progress with regard to the economy. Judging from the media coverage and public interest generally in the Estimates debates, I think the Estimates could be described as a non-event. There are no real policy changes reflected in them.
Most aspects of the Estimates have been discussed at this stage but I would like to make a few observations which I consider very important. Despite numerous promises from various Government spokespersons to emigrant groups, the amount of money provided in this year's Estimates for emigrant services is the same as last year and indeed the previous year. The figures released today by the Central Statistics Office show that emigration increased by over 5,000 for the year ending April 1988. This reflects a major increase since 1986. At the same time, however, the amount of funding for the various services abroad has remained the same. We must also consider that the value of £250,000 is not the same as it was two years ago when we take account of inflation in England which is about 14 per cent. Therefore, this sum will not have the same effectiveness in providing the necessary services.
Again, I wish to reiterate the various viewpoints of the people involved in the emigrant centres. At present they are allowed only to give advice but I think their brief should be extended to providing accommodation as well. Without the voluntary efforts of associations in England, New York and other centres to where large numbers of our people emigrate, the emigrants would be left to their own. If they were to depend on the Government or even on the previous Government to look after their interests, they would be left out on the streets of New York and other centres.
DION are an agency who give grants to emigrant agencies in England. I suggest that their remit be extended to include New York and other American cities. It is rather ironic that the city of New York had to provide the Irish Emigration Reform Movement with a grant to man their centre and provide the hotline to it. It is a sad day for this country when we have to depend on Government agencies abroad to look after our people.
I make a special plea to the Government and to the Minister for Labour that a special allocation in the region of £500,000 be made from the national lottery funds so that we can make some effort towards discharging our responsibility to our young people who have been forced to leave Ireland.
There is nothing in the Estimates that would indicate there are job creation possibilities that would help to keep our people at home. The Irish Episcopal Council came out strongly on this aspect and pointed out that jobs are not being created to the extent that they should be in order to make an impact on emigration. I know their figures were disputed but subsequently they were shown to be accurate. People such as Padraig White, are doing their best to cloud the problem of emigration.
We are making no effort whatsoever to provide any form of education for our young people before they travel abroad, whether it is forced or voluntary emigration. Information is provided by the Department of Labour and other agencies but it is not getting through to the young people who are leaving, otherwise we would not see reports that young people are being picked up and exploited in various ways on the streets of New York. It is about time we impressed on those involved in education that they have a responsibility to impart as much knowledge as possible in order to prepare our young people for emigration. Nobody likes to recognise that people have to emigrate but the reality is that people are emigrating and will continue to do so. Indeed, a recent report by the ESRI suggests that over 130,000 people will emigrate in the next four years. There is no reason to think this figure will change.
The allocation of £250,000 is paltry and a total insult to the voluntary groups in England who are making great efforts to provide advice and information to emigrants. This figure will have to be buttressed in some way by money from the national lottery. I feel that we in this House would all agree to a substantial sum of money being given to emigrant services. This would also get the approval of the entire population who are concerned about the emigration issue.
I would like to refer to the decrease in funding for school transport. It can no longer be said that there is free transport to school because young people have to pay a sizeable sum for this service. It is no longer the luxury service it was in the past. Many parents find they are not getting value for money. When these charges were introduced some years ago, those who are now in Government opposed them vehemently. Now they have no option but to increase the charges to make up the sum of £6 million. I am very concerned also about the number of young people who have no school transport service. I am aware of four cases of young handicapped people who cannot go for special education because transport will not be provided. I appeal to the Government to ensure that the most vulnerable people in our society should not be affected by the cuts. It is a crying shame that four handicapped people cannot get transport to schools which are not too far away from them. In one instance it would only be a case of rerouting the transport to the extent of five miles but the Department of Education will not consent to this. When this creeps into the system it only turns people off. The disadvantaged have very few people to speak out for them. Every effort should be made to ensure that the handicapped are provided with adequate transport facilities to enable them to attend special schools. I appeal to the Minister for Education to have this matter reviewed. I will bring it up with her at a later stage.
Recently there was a well received announcement from the Department of Industry and Commerce that the brief of SFADCo would be extended to include north Kerry. That is something that I have campaigned for since I came into politics. Many politicians have campaigned for this over the last 20 years. Despite the fact that the SFADCo brief has been extended into north Kerry the Government have decreased the amount of funding for administrative costs from £2 million to £1.5 million. I do not know if this decision was made before the Government decided to extend the brief of north Kerry to SFADCo. When one considers that SFADCo's resources will have to stretch further than before, we cannot expect the same effectiveness from SFADCo if they have to cover north Kerry as well as their original brief on a smaller budget. Will the Minister ensure that SFADCo is adequately funded as otherwise their effectiveness will be reduced? The reason north Kerry wanted to be included in the SFADCo region is because they are not happy with the support from the IDA. We always felt that we were the poor relations vis-à-vis Cork. Now expectations have been raised and we want better treatment under SFADCo. If the money is not there we will not get better treatment.
I will refer now to the cutbacks in local authorities in lieu of rate support grants. I know that the Government have taken over responsibility from county councils for certain loan repayments. I hope that the cutback in the grants to local authorities will not affect the overall funding of county councils as county councils are hard pressed to provide funding for the repair of county roads, for instance. Almost all rural TDs who spoke on the Estimates referred to county roads. In County Kerry there are over 2,400 miles of county roads and we are a major tourist county. Local people know which roads to avoid but tourists will be totally turned off Kerry because of the condition of the roads. Many of the bad roads are in our most scenic areas where there is the greatest concentration of tourists. I appeal to the Minister to take account of the wishes of county councils and ensure that adequate funding is available to maintain county roads. The reduction in support grants will mean a deterioration in county roads as county roads are always the last item on the agenda of most county councils to be allocated money. If there is a reduction of 8 per cent in local authority funding I fear that next year there will be a further deterioration in county roads. Will the Minister ensure that our county roads system does not deteriorate further?
In relation to the Estimate for the Department of Labour I am very concerned about the decrease in funding for the social employment schemes. For the remainder of this year sufficient social employment schemes have been sanctioned in Kerry so as to provide 300 jobs. Unfortunately these jobs cannot be activated because Kerry has used up its quota of funds. They have used up their quota because they are in the same region as Cork which has been allocated a greater amount of money for social employment schemes. One scheme I know of would employ 20 men. The men were recruited and their expectations were raised. They wanted to get off the dole queue at little expense to the taxpayer. However, last week they were told that the scheme could not go ahead due to lack of funds. That is ridiculous, especially when people are willing to work in the sort of weather we have been having lately. It is an indictment of our system that money cannot be provided for worthwhile schemes. Apart from that scheme a number of school principals find that due to the cutbacks, they cannot take on caretakers or secretaries in the schools under the social employment scheme. In the interests of creating worthwhile employment I would appeal to the Government to review the funding for social employment schemes. I know that the decrease here is only 1 per cent but we should increase this allowance substantially.
In relation to the funding for DION, the committee in charge of emigration, it is vitally important that the sum already provided is supplemented by a grant from the national lottery. I appeal especially to the Minister for Labour and to his Government colleagues to ensure that this occurs.