Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)

It is time the Minister re-examined those cuts in the interests of safety in this country for many children in school.

I refer to what the Minister for Social and Family Affairs has introduced. She has cut back on the back to education scheme. In that instance, the folly and inequity of the Minister's action is such that a person on low pay will have the difference of €1.21 between social welfare, whether jobseeker's allowance or otherwise, and income. The difference between the person on low income going back to education and the person on social welfare will be €63,000 over three years, the average time to get a third level degree or certification. There is a disincentive to those who want to work because they are penalised if they are 21 years before they can benefit. They receive €6,400 whereas the person on jobseeker's allowance or social welfare payments of one kind or another will get €25,000 per year to fulfil that. That is inequitable and must be changed if we are talking about reasonableness and balance.

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