Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad there is concern on both sides of the House about youth unemployment. However, we cannot forget about or lessen the impact on those in other age groups who find themselves without a job. Unemployment does not discriminate on age grounds and it is equally difficult and challenging to any person who finds himself or herself in this dilemma. The challenge for us as policymakers is to create the environment in which business can flourish and jobs will follow. I know this because I have created jobs. I have been in business through hard times but I have created jobs for 20 years. It is straightforward but one needs to have the right environment to make it happen. Strange as it may seem, during the false boom in Ireland when we were all essentially at full employment, it was a difficult place for employers such as myself and people will wonder why this was so.

Employees, particularly the younger ones, knew nothing else but full employment. Many of them, especially those in the non-professional areas where we see the worst effects, took a relaxed view towards their career paths. One could pick and choose a job, coming and going with relative ease. Travelling the world for a period to find oneself became commonplace. I lost employees to this which was a pity and disappointing when one considers the time and effort put in training them. Job-hopping where people jumped from one employer to another for an extra euro an hour or some other false promise became the norm. In the long run, it did no good for the employees or the businesses. In short, bad practices were allowed to develop in the so-called good times which have become a challenge for us to rectify in the so-called bad times. A former teacher of mine, the late Walter Cleary, used to tell us that when times are good, one should never allow people to get sloppy in time-keeping for work. In short, one could pay them extra but one should never allow bad work practices develop.

As an employer, I have always viewed it as a positive sign if a company has long-standing staff. It means the company has a wealth of experience and service, along with good consistent training given to newer recruits. The significant turnover of staff during the boom years was very frustrating for me as an employer, especially as one needs experienced staff in complex work areas and who also help with training new recruits.

We need to distinguish between the positive aspects of available credit and the fall in work practices. This has changed, although it has taken some time. This is a great time for small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, similar to mine, to build committed and loyal workforces. Schemes such as JobsPlus and JobBridge, of which I will avail, are a huge plus to SMEs and to many of the young people involved. It is hoped they will get permanent and long-term employment as a result.

Last year, the number of people in employment grew by 34,000. It is a good start when one considers the economic meltdown before it. Recognition of the problem of youth unemployment across the EU is welcome. The youth employment initiative, with the commitment from the European Social Fund, is a positive development. The whole issue, however, is down to job creation.

We are in the process of sorting out the banks and I recognise the work done in this area. Many people in the banks get a terrible time and we need to recognise their work and commitment in sorting out the problem. They are not the ones who created the problems in the first place. The banks are lending again but forced lending so as to reach arbitrary targets is certainly not the road we want to take as it will lead to the same mistakes from the past a second time.

One cannot display one’s talents by sitting inside four walls. While the argument in this motion is that we are not paying enough to those under 26 who are unemployed, we need to get the message out that they need to be encouraged to get back into the workplace and training. By doing so, they will get the opportunity to shine which will lead to full employment.

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