The Department of Education faced cutbacks of anywhere from 44 million to 100 million euro earlier this year.

Yesterday however, Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin announced an 8.7 billion allocation for the department in the budget - that’s up from last year’s 8.5 billion euro.

1,250 new teachers are proposed along with a five million euro investment in a book-to-rent scheme. So, not the worst budget the department has faced.

However, Government came in for criticism today for their decision to cut jobseeker's allowance for young people.  The Minister for Education defended the cuts, saying 'Some people aren't applying to go into training or courses. The social welfare system is a safety net.  It's not some kind of double bed.  When you meet somebody for the first time, you ask them three questions; What's your name?  Where do you come from?  What do you do?  If a person cannot answer that third question they're really like a two legged stool.'

'This is a cut for very good reasons' he continued.  'We don't want any young people to go straight out of school and on to the live register and in some cases apply for rent allowance.  I'm very proud to be a Labour minister and it's a core Labour party principal that people should be at work, and people should be trained to be at work.'

The Minister responded to a statement by the youth wing of his own party, Labour Youth, that they condemned the changes to social welfare payments saying 'I would be really disappointed if Labour Youth were not highly critical of the status quo.'

You can listen to the interview here.