asked the Minister for Labour if he considers the participation qualifications for many of the job-creating AnCO programmes as being counterproductive in that they prevent access to the programme to ideally suited candidates as most such enterpreneurial-type individuals would rarely be unemployed for a year or might be keen to start on a project straight from college.

AnCO full time start your own business and self employment courses are aimed mainly at assisting the unemployed. AnCO are, however, running a series of night time start your own business/business appraisal training courses for the employed.

Participants for any AnCO course must have left full time education for a period of six months. This is in order to avoid acting as an attraction from the education system; to preclude participation in courses during school/college holidays; and to establish that the applicant has actually entered the labour market.