Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The maximum rate is €100 if the person does not take part in education or training or take up a work placement. If a person takes up one of those options, it is much higher. We should not have people coming out of school being given €188 per week without any requirement or expectation to take up education, training or work. The €100 is paid to people who do not take up education, training or a work placement. These things are readily available, and any person should be offered such an option within four months. I am not sure where the people the Deputy met were going, but it would be worth taking a look at the rates in Northern Ireland or Britain, for example. It is a feature of welfare systems across Europe that there are lower rates of social welfare for people under 25, for very good reasons. Generally speaking, the rate is lower than in Ireland, or there are more stringent conditions. Unless the people to whom the Deputy referred are going overseas to take up employment-----

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