Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 94: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the eligibility requirements for a person to access funding under the labour market activation fund; the length of time a person must be in receipt of jobseeker's allowance or benefit before they can access funding under this programme; if a third level graduate who has been on jobseeker's allowance or benefit for three months since graduating is eligible to participate in a course approved by this scheme, and if they are entitled to funding while completing same; if a person (details supplied) in Dublin 15 is eligible for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47573/10]

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Following a public request for tender, funding from the Labour Market Activation Fund, 2010 was made available to fifty-nine projects to provide education and training places for up to 12,000 unemployed people.

For the purposes of this Fund, prospective participants on programmes eligible for Fund support must be jobseekers who have been in receipt of an unemployment payment for a period of at least three consecutive months.

Course participants pursuing training courses may qualify for retention of Department of Social Protection (D/SP) welfare payments while on courses for so long as they are entitled to receive such payments under D/SP eligibility rules. Eligibility criteria for individual social welfare payments is a matter for the Minister for Social Protection.

Having regard to these criteria, and other programme-specific admission requirements, the project providing the programme is responsible for assessing and deciding upon the applicant's eligibility to participate.

A full list of projects and the courses they are providing is available on the National Learners' Database www.qualifax.ie.