Vol. 435 No. 2
101 Ms F. Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the fact that County Dublin vocational education committee has refused to pay the rent allowance of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 6 who recently returned to the educational sector to undertake a vocational training opportunities scheme in Dundrum Vocational College and who was formerly in receipt of this allowance from her local health centre.
Participants in the vocational training opportunities scheme continue to be eligible for social welfare and health benefits and the decision on eligibility of individuals remains with the Department of Social Welfare and the health boards. Payment of the main benefits is made by the vocational education committee once eligibility has been established. The payment of rent allowances is the responsibility of the Department of Social Welfare and the health boards. In the case of the VTOS participants, rent allowances have been paid in some instances by the vocational education committee by arrangement with health boards. In other instances, payment continues to be made by the health board. The County Dublin vocational education committee area, which includes Dundrum Vocational College, is one in which the vocational education committee has not been making the payment.
My Department is in consultation with the Department of Social Welfare with a view to streamlining the arrangements for payment of rent allowances to VTOS participants. In the meantime, interim arrangements have been made for the County Dublin vocational education committee to pay the rent allowance to the person in question.
