THE Minister for Social Welfare has rejected Fianna Fail claims that the student summer jobs scheme has been cut back or that his Department is interpreting the regulations inflexibly.
This year, 17,000 students are expected to take part in the successful scheme, which was introduced in 1993. Students are paid about £3 an hour for 600 hours of work in community projects during the summer.
However, anger among students whose applications have been rejected has led the Union of Students in Ireland to lobby TDs for changes in the scheme. USI is concerned about the exclusion of final-year students and the abolition of top-up payments to some students. It also wants the reinstatement of students' right to claim the dole during the summer.
Mr De Rossa said the scheme is open only to students who are not eligible for unemployment assistance. According to the Department of Social Welfare, final-year students are entitled to claim the dole during the summer and are therefore excluded.
Fianna Fail MEP Mr Pat `The Cope' Gallagher said refusing participation to final-year students who want to do community work fostered an "anti-work mentality". This restriction hits RTC students hardest, as it excludes those in the final year of a two-year certificate course or a three year diploma course.
The Minister has also abandoned a top-up payment of £200 he introduced last year. This had been available to students whose families were receiving welfare payments. But Mr De Rossa said this was "not a very bright idea" as it caused dissension in the workplace because different students were getting different rates of pay for the same work.
Fianna Fail's Mr Joe Walsh TD claimed the £200 was being "pilfered" out of the pockets of those students who most need it. Mr De Rossa said the amount of money available under the scheme this year - just over £10 million - is broadly the same as last year. Students were first deprived of unemployment assistance in summer under the "dirty dozen" cuts introduced by Fianna Fail he added.
