Homeless mum calls for welfare rules change to allow her to study

A homeless mum has appealed to Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar to change rules that bar her from getting a support payment that would help her secure a brighter future for herself and her daughter.

Erica Fleming has been living in a hotel with daughter Emily for the last 14 months. Their story was told on the My Homeless Family programme on RTÉ TV last year.

However, after getting the news in May that she had been accepted onto the Trinity Access Programme at Trinity College Dublin, Ms Fleming is now devastated to learn she will not get the welfare payment that would have supported her while she studied.