A hand-made chocolate would go down nicely in the school prefab

IN launching a Patriot missile at the Progressive Democrats, the Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, John McGuinness, delved very deeply into the realm of incredulity.

For a personal opinion published in a Dublin newspaper this week, he produced this gem: “Fianna Fáil may, at times, be messy, but its strength is its humanity.”

Maybe it was from this deep sense of humanity that Fianna Fáil decided not to issue the extra 200,000 medical cards as promised before the general election.

To make available free medical treatment to so many people could cause them to think that they are actually sick and in need of treatment.

Possibly it is because of this inverted sense of humanity that so many thousands of young pupils are forced to attend classes in conditions which would make hedge schools seem more attractive.

Not appreciating the Government’s aim of toughening them up for the real world, 140,000 students, teachers and parents in 700 schools around the country supported a day of protest about school facilities.

It was called by a new parents and teachers pressure group founded in Cork about a month ago called TLC (Tuismitheoirí/Teagascóirí Le Chéile, which means parents and teachers together.

The chairman of TLC, Mr Richie Cotter, said the children, teachers and parents had no alternative but to take to the streets because of the deplorable and disgraceful conditions of many school buildings.

Only €10 million was being spent this year on new buildings and the Department’s approach was “time-wasting, too centralised and exorbitantly priced,” he said.

For example, about 200 pupils in a Galway national school, Scoil Mhuire of Briarhill, walked out of classes to protest at the poor state of the school buildings which, in their case, means damp and unhealthy conditions in their rotting and rat-infested prefabs.

In other cases teachers said that they were being forced to work in damp, overcrowded prefabs, in corridors and in badly converted buildings.

There is one instance in Drogheda where parents are afraid pupils could die if there was a fire in the 30-year-old prefabs used by one school.

The response to the protest from the Government was predictable, but quite an admission in another way.

The Department of Education is spending €342 million this year on 140 large scale projects, plus smaller projects in 430 schools, boasted Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Then he added: “Clearly, it is not possible to wipe out, in the short term, the accumulated deficit of generations.”

But which party has been in government more often than any other, for generations in fact, but Fianna Fáil. Therefore, most of the “accumulated deficit” is directly down to them.

Defending the indefensible is nothing new to our Taoiseach, but even he had to admit that the school building programme is less than last year.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on education, Seán Crowe, was rather more forthright when he said: “It is nothing less than a national disgrace that parents, teachers and students have had to come together to campaign for rights that are so fundamentally basic as safe and secure facilities for education.”

The Fine Gael spokesperson on education, Ms Olwyn Enright, said the action of parents, teachers and children was born out of sheer frustration.

“The school building programme, published in January of this year, was a major disappointment to schools right around the country. In the lead-up to last year’s general election, endless promises were made by candidates from the governing parties. These promises have not been delivered upon.”

The Labour Party education spokesperson, Ms Jan O’Sullivan, said the level of anger and frustration among teachers and pupils was “unprecedented.”

In the same week that so many thousands of pupils, parents and teachers protested over the lack of basic education facilities, tenders were put out for new government jets - plural - which should be ready by next October, according to the Defence Minister Michael Smith.

One will have the capacity to carry at least 25 people, while the smaller one will be able to carry seven.

The present aircraft, a Gulfstream IV, originally cost €30 million, but they’re going upmarket for the next models.

The French aircraft manufacturers, Airbus, which wants the contract, has estimated that it would cost 45 million to provide a jet matching the requirements.

Given that more than one jet is being bought, the capital outlay is going to be very much more.

But that’s only the start of the expense.

Last year, almost €100,000 was spent on food, drink and personal effects aboard the government jet, including sizeable sums for hand-made chocolates and toiletries, including such items as after-shave.

Drink alone came to €18,256.24, to accompany the quantities of food which cost €62,683.

Maybe it was a blessing in disguise for the taxpayers that the jet was grounded as frequently as we were told it was, because otherwise the high life enjoyed by our Government would have cost us substantially more. Food is one thing, but hand-made chocolates and buying after-shave for cheapskate members of the Government and their officials is nothing short of a rip-off of the taxpayers’ money.

The money spent on the jet, apart from crews and maintenance, would be far better spent on relieving the hardship being endured by thousands of young children and their teachers in schools around the country.

Come to that, the €23,000 splashed out for trying to improve Bertie Ahern’s appearance before Dáil and other official functions would have replaced quite a few broken roofs or doors and windows in the same schools.

Meanwhile, the chief economist of Bloxham Stockbrokers, Alan McQuaid, warned that the Government could be forced to make further spending cuts after the publication of the latest exchequer figures which show a deficit of €205 million for the first three months of this year.

He said that even if tax revenues rebound they are likely to be eaten up by day-to-day spending, particularly the benchmarking pay agreement.

One thing that won’t be eaten up, though, is the colossal amount of money that has been set aside to provide our pampered Cabinet with the comfort and indulgences that they have decided they are entitled to.

But then we have to remember exactly what Fianna Fáil is all about.

They are, in the immortal words of Deputy John McGuinness, “a centre left party, with a commitment to social justice. That is a position we should proclaim and defend.”

Anyone else now for the hand-made chocolates?