Mayo Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony has said the Government policy on adults seeking to return to education was nonsensical. Noting that adults currently seeking to return to education must be six months out of work and in receipt of social welfare, Deputy O’Mahony said the announcement of 50 extra staff by the Social and Family Affairs Minister was a waste of money while this policy persisted.
“Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin has announced 50 new facilitators today to support social welfare recipients to return to education or employment but has done nothing to address the nonsensical rule in her Department that keeps people signing on for six months to a year.
“This issue has been brought to light in recent weeks following on from the increase in the numbers of people being laid off from work in the construction industry. What has happened is quite startling and people are being laid off in large numbers. Many of them are in their mid-20s and left school after Junior Cert, when they were tempted by the money on offer during the building boom. Now the boom is gone, many of those people are unemployed and have expressed a desire to return to education and to upskill. “Because they left school early and worked on sites without receiving any qualification, they are now not just unemployed, but also unemployable.
“However, those seeking to return to education at second level must be on social welfare for six months and those who aspire to third level must be on social welfare for 12 months.
“We have Government policy preventing them from upskilling despite wanting to do so by basically telling them to hang around and do nothing for six months to a year. It’s a ridiculous scheme and at a time when we need to get people off the Live Register, we have Government policy encouraging them to stay on it.
“There is a real sense of urgency about this now as all back to education courses commence in September. If people cannot enrol now they will be unable to do so for another year. This policy might have had some merit in previous years when there was plenty of work but that’s not the case anymore. We always hear the need for politicians to think innovatively and I am now suggesting the immediate reversal of this policy to give people the opportunity that they are crying out for.”
