John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill before the House and I compliment the Minister on many of the educational initiatives he has taken since coming to office. He has our full support. I was delighted to hear him state SOLAS will not be a rebranded FÁS. My understanding was that SOLAS would sit down with the former community welfare officer service and social welfare service, and work together to get people either back to work or retrained. I am not quite sure whether this system is up and running as we speak. I have an example of where it should be up and running and the type of bureaucratic nonsense which goes on.

I am aware of a young man who would qualify for the back to education allowance on age grounds and is long-term unemployed as he has spent more than two years on the dole. He failed two subjects in his leaving certificate and while he was on the dole he decided to study physics and mathematics online. At all time he was available to take up work if it was offered to him. He studied at night at home and decided to do the GCE exam in the UK. He spent one day in the UK doing the exam and passed it. He then decided to come back and apply for the back to education allowance, but was told he was not eligible because he was not long enough out of mainstream education, despite the fact he had been on the dole for two years. He is being told he will not be given the back to education allowance but that he will be left on the dole, and given the same amount of money to sit at home and do nothing. This is the type of bureaucratic nonsense which has been going on. I do not think we should be finding excuses to deprive people of further education. This particular incident does not add up or make sense. Will the Minister and the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, get together on such issues and ensure people are not deprived of further education because of such nonsense rulings?