asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason he will not allow unemployment assistance to be paid to an unemployed person (details supplied) in County Cork who at the age of 32 has completed his leaving certificate and who has been accepted for a computer course in Cork Regional College and who wishes to complete same so that he can get a job to provide for himself, his wife and six children; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

23.

asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will outline the progress to date of the educational opportunities scheme; if he will make particular reference to the case of persons (details supplied) in County Cork where acceptance into the scheme was later followed by withdrawal of unemployment assistance and the reason he is not prepared to extend the scheme to include those who succeed in being accepted for places at third level.

40.

asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason for this failure to extend the educational opportunities scheme beyond the pilot areas and his failure to make regulations allowing other courses and voluntary work schemes to qualify; and the proposals, if any, he has to extend the scheme nationwide to include third-level courses.

I propose taking Questions Nos. 4, 23 and 40 together. The educational opportunities scheme was launched on a pilot basis at two centres at Tallaght and Limerick. The pilot scheme provided an opportunity to long-term unemployed persons aged 25 years or over to further their education while still receiving a weekly allowance equivalent to their unemployment payment. In 1988 I reduced the qualifying age to 23 years. The courses, which covered second level education only, included both intermediate and leaving certificate subjects and ran for the normal academic year. The vocational education committees in the two pilot areas arranged the classes under the scheme.

A professional evaluation of the pilot scheme during its first cycle found it to be very worth while. Participants found that it gave a boost to their morale and improved their job prospects.

On 27 September 1989 the Government introduced the vocational training opportunities scheme to replace the educational opportunities scheme. This new scheme which will also be provided by the vocational education committees will be available in 12 centres around the country including Tallaght and Limerick. The scheme provides long-term unemployed persons over the age of 21 with the opportunity to do a full time education and training course leading to a leaving or other certificate such as City and Guilds. About 240 places in all are available in the 12 centres. It is intended to expand the network of centres progressively throughout the country. The 12 centres are, Cork, Tralee, Galway, Bray, Clondalkin, Tallaght, Waterford, Sligo, Athlone, Dún Laoghaire, Finglas and Limerick. Participants will receive a weekly allowance from the vocational education committees equivalent to their unemployment payments. Travel and lunch allowances may also be payable. Recruitment for the new scheme which is being organised by the adult education organisers of the VECs and the managers of my Department's local offices in the chosen centres is already well under way. A number of classes have already started.

In relation to facilities for the unemployed to participate in other educational activities, I took power in the Social Welfare Act, 1989 to deem persons to be available for work or to exempt them from the requirement to be available for work in certain circumstances, thereby safeguarding their entitlements to unemployment payments. Regulations giving effect to those provisions are at an advanced stage of preparation and I hope to be in a position to make an announcement shortly. It is my intention to allow long-term unemployed persons participate in second level education courses and also in projects under community enterprise programmes. The position in relation to third level education courses is also being examined.

As regards the first of the questions from Deputy O'Keeffe, the person concerned claimed and was paid an unemployment payment from 12 April 1988 to September 1989. During this period he was given approval to study for the leaving certificate which he obtained. In September 1989 he informed the local office that he had been accepted for and intended to commence a full time two year computer studies course at the Regional Technical College in Cork. His case was referred for determination to a deciding officer who disallowed his claim on the grounds that he was not available for work due to his participation in the full time computer course at the regional college. He was advised of his right to appeal the decision and was given an appeal form. To date he has not lodged an appeal against the disallowance.

It is understood that the person in question is now in receipt of supplementary welfare allowance in respect of his wife and family, plus a mortgage subsidy. When the regulations I have referred to have been made — as I have said, I expect these to be ready shortly — I will arrange to have his claim reviewed.

Both individuals referred to by Deputy O'Keeffe in his second question were in receipt of unemployment assistance at the employment office, Kinsale. Both commenced a secretarial course in the local VEC technical college in September 1989. Unfortunately, neither of the two sought advance approval from the Department as regards their continuing entitlement to unemployment assistance. When the situation came to light, the claims of both persons were suspended pending examination of whether they satisfied the availability condition. If it is established that the course is part time and that they will be able to satisfy the availability condition while pursuing the course, their claims will be allowed and payment restored. If not, their claims will be examined within the context of the new regulations.

I should like the Minister to confirm to the House that despite this scheme being set up in 1986 up to two weeks ago only those lucky enough to live in Limerick or Tallaght had any opportunity of availing of the scheme. In fact, I wonder if this matter had not been raised in Question Time would we have seen an expansion of the scheme at the end of September? Will the Minister outline to the House why it was impossible to get these schemes in operation in advance of the academic year? It is difficult enough for unemployed people to get back into education but doing so three months into an academic year lasting eight months is totally tying their hands behind their back. I ask the Minister to tell us why the delay? What is the reason for his hesitation in extending this opportunity to all repeat leaving certificate students or second level courses run by the VECs throughout the country? Why is the scheme still limited to certain areas of the country?

To take the last question first, the regulations will give me power to designate particular courses if some person has the facility to attend such courses. It is a much more flexible, open arrangement and obviously since it is so open it has financial and other implications which have to be borne in mind when the regulations are agreed finally.

With regard to the first scheme, I announced earlier I had approval from the Government to release people and pay them their unemployment payments. The second aspect is providing courses, teachers and so on. Apparently the approximate cost of the courses just established is about £1.6 million. There are two aspects with regard to the costs: there is the cost at my end which we have spoken about frequently here and for which I have made arrangements but there is also the question at the education end of providing additional resources. Some of the courses were up and running; there was an extra one in Limerick and one in Tallaght before the extension was put into operation. Incidentally, it had nothing to do with today's Question Time and I am sorry to disappoint the Deputy on that point. It had more to do with getting the whole matter operating nationwide. The Minister for Education hopes and plans to go further with this scheme to include more centres. There are two elements: the scheme is functioning and people are participating. The second aspect is the wider question of participating in a variety of courses and that will be covered by regulations that will be available shortly.

May I appeal for brevity, please. I want to dispose of as many questions as possible but we are making very little progress today.

The Minister has known for some time of the difficulties existing in relation to providing the centres by the Department of Education. In view of the fact that he took powers under last year's Social Welfare Bill, why did he delay moving in an area that is much more under his control, which is designating existing courses for approval? Can he give us a specific time when the regulations will be available? Why is he hesitating in including third level courses which we believe should be open to the unemployed——

We cannot debate this matter today and let us understand that. I remind the House this is Question Time.

I should like to point out that the age limit has been reduced from 25 years to 21 years and that has major implications in terms of the numbers and the kind of people who can participate in the scheme. The fact remains that you must have a course somewhere.

What about the VECs?

Yes, if an individual VEC is prepared to provide the course free to the individual or in a way that the individual will have enough money to participate in the course. That is covered by the general regulations that will be available shortly. The other aspect is of getting a sufficient number of courses functioning throughout the country and getting teachers involved — that is a matter for the Department of Education. There are 13 courses in progress in 12 centres.