EDUCATION DEBATE:THE OWNERSHIP of primary schools should be transferred to the Government, Labour education spokesman Ruairi Quinn told delegates last night.
He said that no existing primary school should be closed or sold without the agreement of the Minister for Education.
For historical reasons, he noted, the Church of Ireland and the Catholic Church owned more than 95 per cent of our 3,200 primary schools.
“The Government must take steps, through negotiation, to arrange for the orderly transfer of ownership to the State so as to protect this important infrastructure.
“The existence of the school would be guaranteed, and the rights of the existing patron would remain and be respected, so as to ensure the continued operation of the school.” Mr Quinn said that ownership of the schools would bring with it responsibility for maintenance and proper upkeep by the State.
Willie Penrose, spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment, said the current recession was worse than the one which confronted the State in the 1980s.
“Some commentators have suggested that the current crisis is not as bad as what we had to cope with in the 1980s.
“They are wrong, because in the 1980s we had a halt to the modest economic growth of the late 1970s and most people had not experienced prosperity.” It was also possible, he added, for the unemployed to emigrate, as the UK and the USA were growing rapidly.
“At one stage it was accepted, not by us in the Labour Party, that we could not all live on a small island. We may soon see how well we can all live on this island if unemployment continues to rise and the unemployed see no prospect of finding work at home or abroad.” Mr Penrose accused the banks of hoarding capital so as to deal with the crisis caused by irresponsible lending.
“We should not forget that about 250,000 small businesses across this State provide up to 750,000 jobs, which are often the backbone of the infrastructural fabric of many of our rural villages and towns. Many small businesses, who are members of the Small Firms Association, or of Isme, have had varied experiences dealing with the banks and many are now on the brink of failure.”
Róisín Shortall, spokeswoman on social and family affairs, said the mortgage interest supplement was the only form of welfare support for people struggling with their monthly mortgage payment.
“Most of the rules for this scheme were set down before the housing boom. They reflect a time when mortgages were much lower and were paid back with one wage, not two.
“So if one of a couple works 30 or more hours a week, they do not qualify, regardless of how high their mortgage is or how low their income may be.” Ms Shortall said that the 30-hour rule should be scrapped and the means test for the supplement revised to ensure that it did not act as a disincentive to work.
She said that the banks, “who have just received €7 billion in welfare payments themselves”, should postpone interest payments for struggling mortgage-holders for two years.