Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Let us be real and have a sensible debate, the reason they are in education is that they cannot get a job. There are people on courses in education with masters degrees but they cannot find a job and they must go back to reskill in other areas. Their hope is that with more qualifications they will benefit when the economy picks up.

The Minister keeps repeating that the imposition on a family as a result of this section is €150. It is important to be clear that what the Government is doing in this section is an imposition of €750. By not having this section, the Minister will be able to give them a relief of €150 of that. The Minister is playing a game of who will decide to keep a child out of college for €50, as that only amounts to a couple of pints in the pub. It is an imposition of €750.