Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Any of us who has ever spent a period out of work know that days, weeks and months are vital in respect of the time needed to reskill or retrain. Those weeks and months should not be wasted. It is not good enough for the Minister of State to say that the PUP is going to expire in March and, therefore, people who are in receipt of the payment should not be able to access those State-provided training opportunities until March 2021. We need to do something in the here and now, and we must not waste any time. I acknowledge that those in receipt of the PUP who take up privately-funded training can continue to receive the PUP, but this issue is about people accessing State-provided training, and the supports that are linked to that. It is not good enough that the Department has not acknowledged the need to address the need for incentives for people currently in receipt of PUP to get into training in the here and now.