Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I criticised the rules of some of the schemes, not the red tape. There are obvious instances, but it is mainly the Department of Social Protection where common sense prevails, even though one still questions them. It is a shame that the rules prevent common sense from kicking in. We have not cracked that nut in three years. When we first came together as a committee we dealt with three Departments and everyone thought that somewhere along the line we could crack some of these obvious issues. One of the most obvious instances is where a person wants to go to college but is not two years out of the system. He or she is not allowed to get the back-to-education allowance but is allowed to stay on social welfare. The money is the same but one must sit at home for another six months in order to qualify for the college course. Those are the little things that the committee has discovered. There is no extra cost involved so we wonder why we cannot get over the matter. I know the logic is that the person might not be on social welfare, and I accept that point.