Dáil Question on eligibility criteria for state funded training

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will open up retraining facilities provided by his Department to persons who are unemployed but not eligible for jobseeker’s allowance due to their partner or spouse earning a low to middle income salary; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Reply by Minister of State Ciaran Cannon

Eligibility to participate on Springboard courses is already open to unemployed people in receipt of certain Social Protection Allowances or if they are signing for social insurance contribution credits or were previously self-employed.

The Department of Social Protection determine an individual’s eligibility to   participate in other training programmes targeted specifically at the unemployed, such as MOMENTUM and the Skillnets Job Seekers Support Programme (JSSP), both of which are funded by my Department.

Similarly, the Department of Social Protection also determine the eligibility of unemployed individuals to participate on FAS training programmes.