asked the Minister for Social Welfare why a person (name supplied) in County Kerry did not qualify for children's allowance in respect of his son who is 17 years of age and still an apprentice.

The person concerned did not qualify for children's allowance in this case because it was held by a deciding officer that the child in question was not serving an apprenticeship. The decision of the deciding officer was upheld on appeal by an appeals officer whose decision is final in the absence of any new facts or fresh evidence which would warrant its revision.

My information is that the applicant who has a big family is unemployed and that the boy in question, who is 17, is an apprentice in a drapery firm in Tralee. The father has assured me that the boy is still an apprentice.

While the legal definition of "apprentice" in relation to qualification for children's allowances is interpreted as liberally as possible, so far as I can see there is no exact definition of the term. However, if the Deputy would like to have the information that I have in the brief, I shall be happy to let him have it just as I shall be happy to let him have the information at my disposal in relation to the previous case.