A chara, - Minister Mary Coughlan's accusation (Opinion, June 24th) that I gave "a misleading and inaccurate" account of the changes made by her to the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) was untrue and vague, in a deliberate attempt to further fudge the real issues at stake here.
Let me be clear on this. The slashing of the allowance has been rightly perceived as an assiduous attack on the vulnerable in society. For thousands of people, the BTEA represented an opportunity to halt a cycle of unemployment in which they may have been trapped for as long as 25 years.
The Minister's tinkering with the scheme has secured small savings to the State while having huge negative effects on the people in question, many of whom also have to support spouses and children.
I find it ironic that the Minister has the nerve to defend her position on the scheme just weeks after she was implicated as one of the chief offenders regarding over-spending on the last General Election campaign.
Tellingly, even though she breached her limit by €9,500, the brunt of this will be borne by the taxpayer.
Meanwhile, BTEA students affected by the changes will lose €1,280.88 per year. While this may seem like small potatoes to the Minister, for a mature student with a young family it is the difference between subsistence and flailing helplessly below the breadline.
This blatant hypocrisy is a sickening indictment of this Government's interest in putting populism and spin over substance, decency and honour. If the Minister wishes to make herself clear on the issue she can do so in the meeting with student representatives that she has denied us for more than eight months. - Is mise,
COLM J. JORDAN, President, Union of Students in Ireland, Grattan Street, Dublin 2.