Mr. Drew Harris:

Undoubtedly when the weekly allowance was at about €160 people were saying to us they could not afford to undergo 30 weeks of training at that rate. As we attract older recruits that just could not happen. A case was put forward, following probably the example of nursing, for 80% of the first point. We are not at that at the moment with €340 a week, but we are not very far from it. Given the range of people we are recruiting, up to 49 years, the weekly allowance still needs to be addressed because if you are in your 30s or 40s you undoubtedly have all sorts of financial commitments and it is quite a commitment then to undertake training for 30 weeks at that rate of pay, in effect, with that allowance.