Vol. 523 No. 4
180 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if, further to his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 802 of 3 October 2000, he will state the funding which is available to a person (details supplied) in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21278/00]
The back to education allowance scheme was introduced to enable unemployed people to gain a third level qualification in order to help them to meet the requirements of the modern labour market. During the academic year 1995-96 the scheme was extended to cover postgraduate courses of study.
As stated in my previous reply the person concerned was refused participation in the scheme as she already had graduate and postgraduate degrees, the latter obtained while participating in
the scheme previously. I regret that no further funding is available from my Department to assist the person in question. I will raise the matter with my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, to see if any funding might be available from his Department.
