Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I will not be long-winded or engage in a long rant. The purpose behind the vocational training opportunities scheme, VTOS, and the back to education scheme is to take some of the thousands of people on the dole queue, who are unemployed and have no prospects, and give them an opportunity to re-educate themselves and reskill in an attempt to return to the workforce re-energised and with a new skill set. There must be criteria for every initiative offered by every Department but the strictness with which we adhere to the admissions policies for the VTOS and back to education scheme is counter-productive and goes against the spirit of the schemes.

I will give two brief examples. One gentleman in my constituency is three days short in terms of the stamps needed for VTOS. He was turned away and told to go home and sit on his bum for another year and return next year. Another man was 12 days short and is in the same position. Apart from being hugely frustrating, it is crazy that an official of any Department, particularly the Department of Social Protection, would instruct people actively pursuing retraining initiatives to go home and sit on their bums for a further 12 months before they would be eligible the following year.

It is criminal.

I ask the Ministers for Education and Skills and Social Protection to come up with some sort of creative mechanism so that people who are far outside the qualifying number of contributions but who are genuinely interested in retraining and reskilling can qualify for schemes, perhaps by buying extra contributions. We need some sort of creative mechanism so that the initiatives the Government has offered can be made available to those who are genuinely enthused by those initiatives and can avail of courses.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Doherty for raising this issue.

My Department funds a range of further and higher education and training courses and programmes which are open to the unemployed. All further education and training courses are delivered free of charge to welfare recipients.

The vocational training opportunities scheme, VTOS, is one of a range of full-time further education and training options available to adults who wish to return to education. VTOS is targeted at unemployed persons over 21 years of age. Its primary target groups are the longer-term unemployed, the low-skilled and the disadvantaged. It aims to give participants education opportunities that will develop and prepare them to progress to employment or on to further education opportunities leading to employment.

There are almost 6,000 places available under VTOS, some of which are provided by VECs through the post-leaving certificate, PLC, programme. To be eligible to participate in a course under VTOS, a person must be over 21 years of age and in receipt of a specified social protection payment for at least six months at the start of the course. Those eligibility criteria are specified to ensure that courses delivered under VTOS are targeted at the longer term unemployed. The criteria help ensure that the 6,000 places can be prioritised for people who are longer-term unemployed.

While VTOS is designed to target the longer-term unemployed, I can tell the Deputy that there is a range of other courses and programmes available that are open to all unemployed people. I mentioned PLC courses. Unemployed people who want to do a PLC course may be able to avail of the back to education allowance, BTEA, which is funded by the Department of Social Protection. If a person is more than three months unemployed, they can access the BTEA and in this way continue to receive income support while engaging in full-time further education. Alongside full-time further education, there are full-time training courses provided by FÁS.

In addition to these full-time options, there are a range of part-time further and higher education and training opportunities available. In the further education sector, these opportunities are delivered under the back to education initiative, BTEI. Attendance at BTEI courses generally does not affect a person's social protection entitlement as they are part-time and the person is still available for work.

With regard to the Deputy's suggestion, there are no plans to change the qualifying periods for VTOS payments. Buying days would be a matter for the Department of Social Protection and I understand that there are no proposals to allow those who are unemployed buy any days they might be short, in terms of the qualifying criteria for BTEA or any other programme.

I would encourage anyone who wishes to return to education or training or is considering their options to contact their local VEC or FÁS office or one of the new Intreo offices that are appearing throughout the country. The might contact their local higher education institution or check with their local welfare office, if they are in receipt of a welfare payment, and they will receive high quality advice and guidance as to the education options available to them and that they might pursue.

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the Minister of State taking the time to attend the House to answer my query, somewhat. However, with respect to him, I must inform those who write ministerial responses that I already know what the VTOS scheme is, its purpose, the criteria for taking part in it and how one applies for it. The Minister of State has read a page and a half of information that everyone in the House is well aware of.

Some part of the VTOS scheme is not working. People in my constituency have been told they are 12 days or three days short and should go home and sit around for the next 12 months. I asked if some mechanism be found to allow a person to do the VTOS course he wants to do, or some other VTOS or back to education course. The answer in the last two paragraphs of the Minister of State's statement is effectively to say sorry, that is not possible. I get that and I will have to find some other creative way to assist these gentlemen.

The Minister of State indicated that other options are available. The reason these people arrived in my office is that they were told to go home and sit around for the next year and wait for the course to be provided again. That is not good enough.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Do Fine Gael not have parliamentary party meetings?

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is clearly aware of the conditions and criteria applying to the VTOS scheme. There are almost 450,000 people on the live register. About 100,000 of those are now long-term unemployed. The longer they remain unemployed the more unemployable they become. My Department and the Department of Social Protection has, therefore, focused on that cohort of people who are the most vulnerable and have the longest journey to make back to education and employment. That is why the VTOS provision is targeted at that cohort and we are clear cut and unambiguous as to who we support and the criteria a person must satisfy in order to access that support.

If the Deputy e-mails me the details of the two individuals to whom she refers, I will work with her in making them aware of other options. I am confident there are other options they can avail of. They are not required to sit at home twiddling their thumbs for the next 12 months. I will certainly assist the Deputy in that regard.

I am also confident that if they were to visit their local VEC, FÁS or Department of Social Protection office they would receive guidance and counselling as to the direction they should take. There is no requirement on anyone to sit on their hands for a year awaiting the opportunity of training or further education.