Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate that. I have looked at the permutations and the statistics on the second and third level options. The estimated cost for this year is €29.6 million for the entire provision at second and third level. In the main, people were coming from the live register – some were being paid unemployment benefit or assistance while others were in receipt of invalidity benefit. The total number on the back to education allowance for 2002 to 2003 is 6,473 and they have not been affected.

I see merit in what the Senator says. The target has always been that a primary degree would be the initial step from which a person would move into employment. One of the reasons this programme was launched was because we had huge concerns about literacy and the difficulties that people faced without formal educational achievements. The target was to get people through the educational process at second level initially and for them to then progress to third level, which was seen as the platform at which a person could move into employment. Of those, some have moved to postgraduate study.

I have listened to the arguments. The matter will be raised in the Dáil on Thursday next by way of parliamentary question. The cost is something which, unfortunately, I cannot carry this year. If I was to allow another group of postgraduate students to commence courses in September, it would cost approximately €4 million. However, I will keep this matter under review and will meet the relevant organisations. University College Galway, in particular, has been quite vociferous in its representations – as would be becoming of the relevant gentleman.