Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I cannot accept this amendment, mainly because of the timescale involved. I would ask Deputies to withdraw the amendment because we are currently conducting a review. Under the pathways to work action plan, we have committed to conducting a review of the impact of the changes made to social welfare payments to young people under the ages of 26 and 24. That review is not going to be finalised until later this year. The delay in finalising it is due to the fact that there is a piece of work being undertaken by NUI Maynooth at the moment. It has nothing to do with the Department and was not commissioned by us. It is being conducted to determine the impact of the reduction in the rates on participation in education. That will feed into telling me whether what we did worked in terms of the original intentions. I am as keen to find out about this as other Deputies.

That is why in this year's budget we gave everybody in those age categories the full €5 increase rather than a percentage thereof as they would have received last year and the year before. I acknowledge it is a small amount. If the Deputy could give me a little more time, I could agree to the amendment but I cannot agree to it in the short term because I will not have received the research from NUI Maynooth.