A scheme which aims to take young people off dole queues and get them back into education was announced today.
The Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin said today that a programme to contact young people who are signing on the Live Register for more than six months is being launched.
The aim is to encourage people aged 18 to 25 to acquire additional skills and qualifications under the Back to Education Allowance Scheme (BTEA).
Ms Hanafin said today the increase in the number of under-25-year-olds signing on needs to be urgently addressed. At the end of June the Live Register showed that over 48,000 people under 25 were unemployed.
Recent figures from the Central Statistics Office show that over 14,5000 of these have been on the Liver Register for more than six months, with half signing on for between one and three years.
A budget of €71 million is available under the BTEA which allows for a weekly payment equivalent to the relevant social welfare allowance for participants while they are in second or third level education. An extra €500 is also paid out at the start of the academic year.
Last year almost 9,000 people availed of the BTEA with around 2,000 of these aged under 25.