Mattie McGrath criticises no-confidence vote, warns on school costs
Mattie McGrath spoke in support of the motion on 29 Mar 2023, criticising an earlier "phony" vote of no confidence and expressing concern about waste and rising school building costs. He argued that excessive construction costs, including an ASD unit costing roughly a million euro, and taxes such as the carbon tax are putting school extensions and community-funded projects at risk.
Support for the motion and criticism of earlier debate
McGrath said he backed the motion and contrasted it with what he called a phony vote of no confidence earlier in the day, describing that debate as jockeying for position and disruptive. He said the current debate was reasonable and sensible in comparison.
Concerns about waste in school funding
He warned that funding is not the only issue and emphasised waste in school building projects. Drawing on his experience on boards of management, he said some costs were excessive and must be addressed to protect value for money.
ASD units and local school example
McGrath cited an ASD unit costing roughly a million euro as an example of excessive spending, saying such units are badly needed in many schools. He named Kenosha Dwaniski and Carl Dwaniski in CAIR as a rapidly expanding school with many newcomers and said its planned extension, including ASD rooms, must be protected.
Taxes, building costs and project delays
He blamed recent government measures - mentioning the carbon tax and other charges on builders and building products - for driving up costs and causing contractors to stall or send letters halting work. He said these added costs are leading to projects being pulled and increasing uncertainty for boards and communities.
Community fundraising and long-term consequences
McGrath appealed for respect for voluntary boards of management and the fundraising they have done, warning that current policy choices would have costs that last for decades. He said school communities should not be penalised by policy decisions that make building and extensions unaffordable.
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I want to support this motion here this evening. I believe it would be a sense of the motion brought forward by the party, not the nonsense that we had this morning of a phony vote of no confidence in the government, that they knew they wouldn't win, but jockeying for positions with Sinn Fein and the other party on the left, the Social Democrats, and, you know, all the antics and disgruntlement and interruptions, and it was a shocking debate, to be honest. This is a reasonable and sensible debate. We all are worried about the future of education for I have children in all strands of education, and grandchildren, sorry, in all levels, from the Neenra right up to third-level college, and I know the Minister has as well, so look, funding isn't going to be a problem, but we need to also look at the waste, and there is a lot of waste, and I've been involved in many school projects, being on the board of management and everything else, but when I see an ASD unit costing roughly a million euro, there's something wrong there. It's really, really too much money for the units, and they're so badly needed in so many schools. I want to mention Kenosha Dwaniski, and Carl Dwaniski in CAIR, a wonderful school, rapidly expanding, a lot of population, a lot of newcomers there as well, and a great community, a great welcome, and a faulty stock group there, but we need, there's an extension plan for there, with ASD and other rooms, and hopefully that won't be one of the parties that are pulled. Why are they being pulled, Minister? They're being pulled because your government have added huge costs, which are pathetic nonsense, again, of carbon tax, and all the different punitive taxes you put on the builders, and on building products, and even building houses, or whatever, and carbon tax is a direct penalty on people that are building. So now your builders have contracts, they're getting letters sent, stall, and we don't know where we are. Do you know the angst that the board of management, the voluntary board of management, that have put into those issues, and the fundraising done by the school communities? So, we need to treat the school communities with respect, and we'll kind of throw out the bucket, the baby with the wet water here, we want all this liberal agenda, but we won't, no talk about the cost of that, and the cost of that will be associated with that in decades to come. Thank you. Thank you.
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