Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 13:

"In page 9, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following: “Report on including apprenticeships as education for social welfare payments

17. The Minister shall prepare and lay a report before the Houses of the Oireachtas reviewing the inclusion of apprenticeships in the definition of “full-time education” and with regard to how this is approached in determining eligibility for Social Protection payments and the report shall be presented to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social Protection within 6 months of the enactment of this Bill.”.

This is an issue I raised with the Minister earlier in the year. I had been contacted by a parent who is in receipt of the guardian's payment. She looks after two children and she has done for most of their lives. In the case of the son, he wants to do an apprenticeship. The guardian's payment continues up to the age that the child turns 22 if they are in full-time education, but apprenticeships are not listed as full-time education. I appreciate that apprentices are paid while they are on the job, but for the guardian, there is a cost when their child goes into or continues in full-time education. Whether they are in school, in an apprenticeship, or in college, there is a cost there. The guardian's payment is not very high and I think consideration should be given to what I am suggestion. We are at the stage now in the State whereby we really need to be encouraging apprenticeships. In fairness, the Government has made moves to do so. That is welcome. Yet, I do not think we should be differentiating, particularly when it comes to the guardian's payment. There are cases where there is a guardian who is taking care of a child and they choose to continue in education, but if they choose an apprenticeship over going to college, the payment will not continue. I ask that the Minister might look at this again. I do not think that there will be a huge number of people concerned because I do not believe that the guardian's payment involves a major amount of money. I ask the Minister to look at that, especially at a time when we are encouraging apprenticeships.

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