Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Nobody is implying anybody would be happy with the cut. Let us put this in perspective. The payment is still €10 a week more than in 2007 and prices have fallen. The cut is between €8.30 and €8.50 depending on the schemes people are on.

The number of training and education places has increased. They include 3,500 under the European globalisation adjustment fund, 3,500 under the activation fund and 9,000 FÁS training places in addition to the other schemes run by the Department of Education and Science and FÁS. The graduate placement scheme was launched during the summer but the criteria were amended at the beginning of this month. Up until then, there were 50 starts every week and I anticipate that will increase because more employers are participating. Up to the beginning of December, an employer had to have ten employees or more. We anticipate the number of employers will increase.