Kenny says work being done on education return scheme

IT SHOULD be possible to streamline the back-to-education allowance scheme and make it easier for unemployed people to qualify, the Taoiseach has told the Dáil.

Enda Kenny said the Minister for Social Protection was working with Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn to harmonise a “plethora” of schemes.

Joan Burton had “altered the conditions in a number of cases to make it easier for people who are willing to go back to education with a view to getting another module or degree”.

He said, however, that investment had not been made in information technology in the Department of Social Protection to “streamline efficiencies” and make much faster changes to “structural bureaucracy” attaching to many of its schemes. “It was never put in place and we cannot do it overnight.”

The Taoiseach was responding to Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (SF, Cavan-Monaghan) who said many people were being prevented from going back to education by “what can only be described as over-restrictive elements of the scheme”.

More than 25,000 students benefited from the scheme in 2010- 2011 and more are expected to avail of it this year.

Mr Ó Caoláin said people were being excluded from the scheme for a year because they had to be unemployed for nine months to gain access to third-level education and three months for secondary level.

“The nine months for third-level education means a year lost or suspended in the lives of people who could otherwise use their time industriously for a better result,” he said. He added that it would reduce the numbers claiming jobseeker’s allowance or benefit during that period.

Mr Kenny said no decisions had been made by the Cabinet about any of the schemes in the budget but would be for discussion between now and budget day.

The social protection budget is €21 billion and that department’s focus is on inefficiencies, waste and fraudulent claims.

He agreed that “it should be possible to have a more streamlined impact”.

The emphasis “has to be on getting people from a position where they are locked in and cannot do anything, to offer them upskilling through retraining courses leading to job creation”.

Mr Ó Caoláin referred to one constituent who wrote: “I do not want to sit at home claiming jobseeker’s allowance for the next 10 months. I want to further myself through education but barrier after barrier is being put in my way.”

The Taoiseach acknowledged “people who feel frustrated and locked into a system” and that this required “practical and pragmatic adjustment”.