Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her response and clarification. She has answered much of what I wanted answered, but I still have a concern, as highlighted by Louise Bayliss from Single Parents Acting for the Rights of Kids, SPARK. From what the Minister has said I understand that the families that have already signed up to the scheme can stay on it indefinitely until the end. They will not be asked to come off it. There was a fear over the 15 hours going to 20 hours for low-income families going back to education. They used to have 40 hours and there was a fear that they were coming back to 15 or 20 hours.

Anybody who is on the scheme can stay on the scheme and the new criteria only apply to the new people coming forward. People can stay on the existing schemes until they finish their course, their job activation or anything else. There is no time limit on it. It is not just for 12 months as was mooted at the beginning. That is the clarification I seek on that.

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