Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

At the time, Deputy Brennan was not the Minister. In the presence of the then Minister, Deputy Coughlan, and Deputy Penrose, I stated in the Dáil that somebody would take a case to the High Court and would win it. It is on the record of the Dáil and I am glad I put it on the record.

At the time it was a mean cutback. These people took up the Department of Social and Family Affairs booklet, entitled Helping You to Return to Education. It was outlined in that scheme that people would be allowed to draw that allowance during the summer months. In the middle of the period in which they submitted applications, the Department changed the rules.

I ask the Minister not to appeal the decision because what the Department did was wrong. The Minister should pay all the participants in the scheme, most of whom could not afford to go to the courts. One man took the case because he felt so strongly about it. While the judgment only relates to him, there is a moral obligation on the Minister to pay the rest of the participants.

It was a mean cutback at the time. The Minister and the Department were trying to encourage people back into the education system and the workplace and out of the social welfare net. However, the ground rules were changed. According to the Union of Students in Ireland, up to 5,000 people may have been affected by the cutback to the scheme but they did not have the money to go to the High Court. I ask the Minister to pay everyone who was on the scheme at the time.

Will he revert to paying the scheme's participants during the summer months, as was the case when the scheme was first advertised? It is important that the Minister should clarify this. It is sad to see people on social welfare having to take the Government to the High Court, thereby putting themselves and their families at risk. Going to the High Court involves a major cost. Social welfare payments are in place to help people. People are being encouraged to go back into the education system and the Government should not put obstacles in their way.

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