Deputy Sherlock said that the current attempts to encourage unemployed people back to education do not go far enough.

"We need to ensure that people do not lose their social welfare entitlements if they decide to go back to college."

"While some efforts have been made to upskill the many people who have been made redundant in the last twelve months, these efforts are not enough for people who are worried about making ends meet," said Deputy Sherlock.

"As it stands the National Employment Action Plan only makes mild provisions that allow those receiving Social Welfare for nine months to apply for the Back To Education Allowance. The current system, however, forces those who enter the scheme to give up their welfare entitlements to avail of the allowance. As it stands the Department are telling people they can have an allowance to cover the cost of further education, but only if they forego the payments they were using to pay for their day to day living.

"At this time we should be encouraging the many unemployed people in this country to engage in further education to improve their skill set. As it stands, however, anyone who may be interested in returning to education are prohibited from doing so as they fear that if they do, they will lose the money they need to put food on the table as a result," concluded Deputy Sherlock.