Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I fully understand and accept the intention but the experience is prescribed. It states that if you do not attend or participate in the scheme, you will potentially lose the benefit. Therefore, it is not of your own free will or off your own bat. The legislation actually implies that if you do not engage, you could lose your payment. That is a really big issue because it forces people into doing a job they do not want to do out of fear of losing the cushioning the Minister referred to. It is fine where people are reskilling because they want to change sector or upskill, or because they need to re-educate because their old job did not give them transferrable skills, but I am talking specifically about work experience. I do not believe people can upskill just through work experience because that would not involve an educational programme. Are we saying that somebody might contact my office and ask whether I can give work experience to, say, a person who has lost their job and who has a background in policy but not enough experience, and that I will be told the Department is going to continue to pay them at a given rate? Educational programmes and reskilling are very different from work experience. I am seeking to know what is meant by work experience.