Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The points being made are reasonable and understandable. The qualifying period for the second level option is three months. Those who become unemployed in February face a problem but it takes people a while to identify the courses they want to do. It is a principle of the scheme that there should be upward progression, although I recognise that where someone wants to change career, there may be a reason to look at it. We should bear in mind, however, that the previous period for third level courses was 12 months but has now been reduced to nine. I will gladly keep the matter under review but being honest, the financial leeway I have in a budgetary context is limited and I must ensure we keep within spending limits.

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