Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is an issue I have raised previously with the Minister for Social Protection and departmental officials. There is something illogical in the way it operates at present.

With a back to education scheme as rigid as the current one if, for example, one signs on in February, it will be 20 months before one is eligible to begin a university course, not nine months. One might be eligible to apply for the back to education allowance. That is one of the key issues. Anybody signing on early in the year for a university course, most of which begin at the end of September or October, will be excluded because he or she will not have the nine required months.

Earlier this year the length of time one was allocated jobseeker's benefit was reduced from 12 months to nine months. There was no change in the eligibility requirements for the likes of back to education down to six months to reflect that change of three months.

Mr. Egan mentioned that the Department will increase the minimum age for the back to education scheme from 21 to 23. I am trying to figure out the justification for that. With this change, young people who have completed their leaving certificate and want to go to university could be six years out of formal education, because some people complete their leaving certificates at the age of 17. In a time of crisis the Department is reducing their options. Besides the fact that social welfare payments have been cut for young people under the age of 25, the Department is now saying the educational options are also going to be restricted, and in many ways that is why we are seeing so many young people emigrating. The Department is sending out another message that if there is no work there, there is no education at the level some of these people would require. People may have completed their leaving certificate and may have got good results, and decided not to go to university, but they might want to go later. There are other options such as the Springboard programme and the like but many people need a back to education allowance and it is not an option to hang around waiting to qualify by age or by the number of months they have been on the live register. That is why we are seeing people emigrating.