Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 7, subsection (1), lines 32 to 37, to delete paragraph (f) and substitute the following:“(f) promote, encourage and facilitate the placement of persons belonging to such class or classes of person as may be specified by the Minister for Social Protection after consultation with the Minister in further education and training programmes that are funded, in whole or in part, out of public moneys,”.

The purpose of this amendment is to amend section 1(f) in order to broaden the cohort of persons who many be placed in our further education and training programmes as part of the activation of the unemployed by the National Employment and Entitlement Service, Intreo. It will remove the restriction that only those on jobseeker's allowance or jobseeker's benefit can be placed in further education and training programmes, as currently provided for in the Bill as part of this activation process. The removal of this restriction will allow persons in receipt of, for example, one parent family payments, disability payments and other benefits to be part of the activation process, as they should be. It will also provide the flexibility for the Minister for Social Protection, after consultation with the Minister for Education and Skills, to determine from time to time the most relevant cohorts of the unemployed to be supported with access to further education and training to meet changing economic needs.