Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 539: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she has plans to change the criteria for admission to VTOS and for the back to education allowance for persons under the age of 21; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8641/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The vocational training opportunities scheme, VTOS, is a second-chance education and training programme which provides courses of up to two years' duration for unemployed persons. There are no plans to reduce the entry age for VTOS from 21 years on the basis that the programme has been designed for older people with a record of unemployment, with special targeting of those who have been long-term unemployed.

The back to education allowance is administered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs.