Mr. Kevin Walshe:

I thank the Chairman and committee members for the opportunity to discuss the current eligibility criteria for the back to education allowance scheme.

Currently, an individual on jobseeker's benefit must have been in receipt of payments for nine months - 234 days - or longer to qualify for the back to education allowance. In 2004, the criteria for receiving the back to education allowance was six months - 156 days - notwithstanding that it was a time of high employment. The former position suggests there is flexibility with regard to the length of time an individual should be unemployed to qualify for the allowance. On Wednesday, 12 May 2010, at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs, a representative of the Department of Social Protection stated, "The imposition of a waiting period serves to minimise the deadweight element". The inference was that undertaking a third level course might be easier than being unemployed and in receipt of jobseeker's benefit. Time spent on a community employment scheme or JobBridge internship is reckonable for eligibility for the back to education allowance. An individual who is unemployed can participate on these courses and qualify for the allowance. In effect, he or she can be in receipt of welfare payments for a year longer than an individual who is unemployed for three months and is refused the back to education allowance. Is this the best use of scarce resources? Is it not an anomaly that time spent in prison is reckonable for qualification for the back to education allowance whereas an individual who is unemployed for three months does not qualify?

I suggest that an individual with a third level degree is better equipped to return to the labour market. Instead of claiming welfare payments, he or she would be contributing by paying PRSI and income tax. I thank the committee.