7.— The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following section after section 68:

“Jobseeker’s benefit — disqualification for course of study.

68A.— (1) A person shall not be entitled toreceive jobseeker’s benefit while attending acourse of study, other than in the circumstances and subject to the conditions and for the periods that may be prescribed.

(2) In this section—

‘academic year’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 148;

‘a course of study’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 148;

‘institution of education’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 148.

(3) For the purposes of this section, a person shall be regarded, subject to regulations made under subsection (1), as attending a course of study—

(a) for 3 months immediately following the completion or the leaving by that person of second level education or the completion by him or her of the leaving certificate examination of theDepartment of Education and Skills, whichever is the later,

(b) for the duration of an academic year, or

(c) for the period immediately following the completion of one academic year, other than the final academic year of a course of study, up to the beginning of the following year.”.