Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue, which I have been seeking a debate on for some time. As we all know, we are in the midst of a severe economic downturn and large numbers of people are unemployed. The only way to get many of those people back into employment is to get them back into education. However, getting people back into education requires financial assistance. The back to education allowance provides such financial assistance but there is a serious anomaly in the scheme. Some people who have recognised qualifications are forced, through no fault of their own, to change direction and study for a new profession. This is most obviously the case with construction-related qualifications. The anomaly is that such students do not qualify for the back to education allowance because, in many cases, their chosen courses will result in a qualification which is the same, or less than, the one they currently hold. This is an enormous issue for some people, many of whom are still very young, who have reached the highest level of their profession and now find themselves unemployed. We all know of architects, quantity surveyors, engineers and a host of other construction-related workers who are unemployed. It is not long since we were crying out for these experts to service the construction industry. Their qualifications demanded a huge investment of time, energy and money and many of them thought they had a job for life.

Last week in a written reply to a parliamentary question tabled by my colleague, Deputy Creed, the Minister stated the back to education allowance is a second chance educational opportunity scheme. She qualified this by saying that the courses chosen must lead to a higher qualification than the one currently held. Most architects, for example, would have studied for between five and ten years but because of the dramatic downturn in the economy and in the construction sector in particular, many of them will never work in their chosen field again. Many of them are only in their thirties and it seems very unfair to leave them on the shelf for the next 30 or 40 years. Their continued unemployment is soul-destroying for them and an enormous burden on the State. For many unemployed professionals, their careers were so short that there was no scope for them to accumulate wealth. Very few of them can now afford to return to full-time education if it means giving up their social welfare payment. It seems crazy that if they do not go back to education they will continue to receive their jobseeker's allowance and other social welfare payments. Many highly qualified unemployed people cannot afford to re-educate themselves and may never work again. An entire generation will be lost.

I ask the Minister to reconsider the qualification criteria for the back to education allowance. Most of the conditions are reasonable but the progression requirement, as currently set out, is a major obstacle to many people who are willing and able to re-educate themselves. The Minister advised Deputy Creed in the aforementioned reply that her Department is currently reviewing a wide range of supports, including the back to education allowance. The anomaly in the criteria must be amended to suit the needs of the Ireland of today, not the Ireland of five or six years ago, when we were dependent on the building industry. We must give young people who are more than willing to go back to education a second chance.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue.

The Department estimates that expenditure on employment supports will be over €960 million in 2012. This substantial expenditure, which is against a backdrop of significant fiscal consolidation, underlines the Government's commitment to enhancing support for activation and assisting people return to employment. As outlined in the Pathways document, the Department will offer 85,650 job placement, work experience and education initiatives in 2012. Included in the supports available is the back to education allowance, BTEA, scheme which is a second-chance education opportunities scheme designed to remove the barriers to participation in second and third level education.

A person wishing to qualify for the BTEA will have to satisfy a number of conditions such as being of a certain age, in receipt of a prescribed social welfare payment for a specified time period, pursuing a full-time course of study leading to a recognised qualification in a recognised college and progressing in the level of education held, with reference to the national framework of qualifications, among others. The BTEA scheme covers a large range of full-time courses of education in approved colleges spanning basic foundation courses to third-level courses across all disciplines.

The BTEA guidelines are, in the main, in line with the mechanisms in place for student support type schemes administered by the Department of Education and Skills. Progression in education is a condition which is not unique to the BTEA. Indeed State support for education purposes is grounded on a student progressing from one qualification level to a higher one. This is necessary to ensure displacement does not occur, in that courses could be offered to students who are not progressing at the cost of students progressing from a lower education level.

Resources allocated and numbers supported through the BTEA have increased steadily in recent years. It is estimated that over €200 million will be spent on the BTEA in 2012 as compared to 2008 when, for example, just over €77 million was spent on the scheme. Some 25,700 participants were supported in the 2011-12 academic year which represents a significant 120% increase compared to the 2008-09 academic year. It is expected that numbers availing of the scheme for the current academic year will be similar to last year. Persons wishing to pursue a part-time education course may be able to do so while retaining their jobseeker's payment under the part-time education option, PTEO, of the back to education programme. Examples of courses that may be pursued under the PTEO are the 6,000 part-time higher education places for unemployed people made available under the Springboard initiative announced earlier this year by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairi Quinn. In addition, the Department also supports the provision of a wide variety of training courses through networks of private sector companies in a range of sectors and regions, supported by Skillnets Ltd., through the PTEO. It should also be noted that FÁS, as the national training authority, anticipates the needs of, and responds to, a constantly changing labour market. It strives to do this through the provision of tailored training programmes that suit various needs and access to many training programmes is not determined by a person's welfare status.

The Department is reviewing a wide range of activation supports available to Department of Social Protection customers, including the BTEA and it is intended to canvass the views of stakeholders as part of the implementation process resulting from the review.

The intention is to canvass the views of stakeholders as part of the implementation process resulting from this review.

Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. The real problem is progression for people who may have had level eight qualifications in, for example, architecture or quantity surveying. There are no longer jobs in these areas and they are going back to education to change career. As the courses they are now pursuing are level six or seven, they do not qualify for support even though they may currently be receiving an equivalent amount through the jobseekers' allowance. I ask the Minister of State to raise the issue with the Minister for Social Protection. Changing the regulations will not cost the State anything because the money can simply be transferred from one payment to the other. If these individuals are not given the opportunity to change career they will be left aside. Unfortunately, they may have to go elsewhere to find employment in the future.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge the Deputy's point that qualifications at a very high level are no longer sustainable in terms of employment. If one changes one has to take a course at a lower level. The Deputy argues that this should be addressed. I will ensure the Minister for Social Protection is made aware of the issue urgently.