NOVEMBER 2015 Issue 12 - Volume 16
WESTERN CARE ASSOCIATION FASHION EXTRAVAGANZA 24 PAGE WEDDING GUIDE
2 Night Escape including Bed & Breakfast and One Evening Meal on a Night of your choice for 2 people
ONLY €89PPS Valid 1st November 2015 to 15th March 2016 Includes some close out dates
ULAID FOR COLEMAN CENTRE CONCERT
€1.5m. BTEA Scheme fails to help unemployed “From Breast to Marrowbone” I Book Launch
Pearse Road, Sligo Book Now: 071-9190400 www.sligopark.com
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Ballinacarrow native Marie Monnelly and her husband, Gerry (Ballina native), with close family members, pictured at the Ballina launch of Marie’s book “From Breast to Marrowbone” in Ballina Pastoral Centre. Copies of the book are available from Sr. Breda Leonard at the Pastoral Centre. Full proceeds go to the Irish Cancer Society (See story on page 6). Photo: John O’Grady
WINDOW AND DOOR REPAIRS to PVC - Aluminium, TImber Handles, Locking Mechanisms, Door Locks, Cylinders, Door Handles, Sliding Door Wheels, etc. Also Dry Lining, Plastering and Tiling
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TERMON ROAD, BOYLE, CO. ROSCOMMON T: 071-9662236 info@joesimon.ie • www.joesimon.ie EASILY TRACK ACTIVITY, SYNCHRONIZE STATS, SEE TRENDS AND REACH GOALS
T has cost the Irish taxpayer almost €1.5 million. Yet, a second chance education scheme has failed to improve the employment prospects of participants, according to a study by the Economic and Social Research Institute. The Back To Education Allowance which was introduced in 1998 to help unemployed people return to either second or third level education as a stepping stone to getting back into the workforce, is turning out to be another poorly thought out plan which has cost a large sum to the Irish taxpayer. Last year alone, over 22,700 people availed of the allowance at a cost of €162.5m and the scheme has cost €1.49bn since its inception. However, the new report by the ESRI found there was no evidence that people who commenced an education programme in 2008 benefitted from improved employment outcomes up to last year. It actually found they were less likely to have found a job compared to unemployed people who did not avail of the scheme. BTEA participants who entered a course in September or October 2008 were found to be between 23pc and 38pc less likely to have exited unemployment by June 2012 and between 14pc and 29pc less likely than at the same time in 2014. Obviously, the scheme has proved very popular and spending on it trebled between 2007 and 2012, increasing from €64.1m to €199.5m per annum. Simultaneously, the numbers using it quadrupled from around 6,000 to almost 25,000. The report’s lead author, Dr Elish Kelly, said the evidence presented “raises concerns about the effectiveness of the BTEA scheme as an employment support programme for assisting jobseekers to transition from unemployment to employment.” Continued on Page 2
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