HUNDREDS of post-Leaving Cert (PLC) students will be turned away from courses this September as a result of caps on state support de­spite a government push for the unemployed to go back to education.

The Bray Institute of Further Education (BIFE) says it will have to turn away some 200 candidates they do not have the resources to educate.

"People are trying to train themselves and we are in the ideal position to offer that service in the vocation area," deputy principal Gabriel Allen said.

"We have one- or two-year courses that would be very suitable to people who have lost work and who want to retrain but for some reason they are capping us.

"It means that they will have to go out on the dole and the government will have to fork out all this money rather than giving them the opportunity to retrain."

The Cavan Institute is also facing problems. They have had more than 2,000 applications – an increase of 50% on last year – but are capped at just 1,160 places.

"This year, the allocation and the demand are very far apart," said director Ann Marie Lacey.

"We are working very closely with Co Cavan VEC to ensure that we can accommodate as many of the applicants as possible but we do anticipate that we will be turning away a larger number of students than in previous years."

A spokesperson at the Department of Education said that the number of approved post-Leaving Cert places was set at its current level because there is a "continuing requirement to plan and control numbers and to manage expenditure within the context of overall educational policy and provision".