Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leo siúd a ghlac páirt sa díospóireacht seo, ní hamháin mo chomhghleacaithe ach freisin iad siúd ón Rialtas. Measaim go bhfuil sé tábhachtach go mbeadh díospóireacht againn ar an gceist phráinneach seo. Is trua nach bhfuil gach rud atá ráite sa díospóireacht seo go hiomlán fíor. Cloisimid go minic ón Rialtas go bhfuil gach rud á dhéanamh acu. Ní léir dom agus ní léir dóibh siúd atá ar na scuainí dífhostaíochta go bhfuil go leor á dhéanamh ag an Rialtas seo chun déileáil leis an bhfadhb mhór dífhostaíochta atá sa tír seo, go háirithe i measc daoine óga. Ní dhearna an Rialtas deireanach a thuilleadh ach oiread. Tá teipithe ar lucht an Rialtais déileáil i gceart leis an gceist seo ón uair a toghadh iad, tar éis dóibh geallúint a thabhairt don phobal le linn fheachtas na bliana 2011 go mbeadh sí seo go hard in ord na bpriarachtaí acu. Níor tharla sé sin ón am gur tháinig na páirtithe le chéile chun clár an Rialtais a ullmhú. Níl an dífhostaíocht mar phriaracht acu. Tá siad tar éis díriú isteach ar go leor daoine eile seachas na daoine dífhostaithe sa tír seo atá ar an ngannchuid, nó na daoine atá tar éis an bád bán a thógáil agus an Stát seo a fhágáil. Cuimsíonn daoine óga, ina measc iad siúd atá páirteach i scéimeanna traenála, níos mó ná 30% dóibh siúd atá dífhostaithe. Tá an-chuid dóibh dífhostaithe le tréimhse fhada.

Far from guaranteeing the youth of Ireland anything meaningful, the approach of the Government and the Fianna Fáil-led Government that preceded it has been to punish, demonise, demoralise and discriminate against young people who are unemployed and do not have access to employment because jobs are not available. In budget 2010 the previous Government cut dole payments for those aged under 25 years. Fine Gael and the Labour Party voted against the measure, arguing strongly at the time, with Sinn Féin, that the cuts did nothing to address the shortage of jobs, as there were not nearly enough places available in education and training, and that they would simply drive more young people to emigrate. That was the response of the current Government parties to a measure introduced in budget 2010. The very same parties have recently introduced further cuts to the dole for young jobseekers. These cuts still do nothing to address the shortage of jobs, as there are still not nearly enough places in education and training. On the contrary, they will exacerbate the problem of emigration among young peoplewho will, as previous speakers highlighted, move to far-flung places.

The social welfare cuts are wrong and should be reversed on the basis that they amount to blatant discrimination against young people. I believe they are contrary to the Equal Status Acts and would be interested if someone were to take a case against the Government, specifically on the basis of discrimination against young people. This is not a balancing act, as the Minister would have us believe, between service support and income support. The cut to jobseeker's allowance and supplementary welfare allowance amounts to approximately €32 million which will be taken directly from the pockets of poor young adults. Deputies should remember that these payments are means tested and one must be poor to qualify for them. The Department has confirmed to me that the only additionality in terms of activation provision for young people is the small and laughably inadequate €14 million allocated to the youth guarantee in the budget. The International Labour Organization has estimated that a decent youth guarantee, similar to that implemented in Sweden, would cost approximately €6,600 per participant. Approximately 65,000 young people are unemployed, which means that the €14 million allocated by the Government amounts to only €215 per person. Even if one adds to this figure the funds available from the European Union under the youth guarantee, it still falls far short of the €6,600 per person the ILO estimates is required for a meaningful youth guarantee.

Income supports for young unemployed people have been targeted for cuts across the board. These cuts affect young people and their families. Not only is €32 million being cut from jobseeker's allowance payments and supplementary welfare allowance payments which supposedly acts as a safety net, but the Government has also made cuts to apprenticeships and for people in training. The contribution charge for periods spent in institutes of technology by FÁS apprentices will no longer be covered, costing apprentices more than €1,000. Training allowances for participants in FÁS and Youthreach schemes have been abolished, alongside the €20 top-up paid to the long-term unemployed who take up training. Young people will be hit by these further hidden cuts which have not been covered extensively in the media.

Pathways to Work is the ultimate misnomer. With 35 jobseekers for every advertised vacancy, the big elephant in the room is the question, "Pathways to what work?" The Government has been relying on emigration and under-resourced activation schemes to shrink the live register figures.

Cuts to CE scheme funding have seriously undermined the training that can be delivered by those schemes. Gateway and Tús, which involve compulsion and are not based around formal training, move us further down the dark road to workfare. Gateway participants will be doing work that local authority full-time employees should be doing and would be doing had this Government and the previous one not continuously cut the numbers in local authorities.

Much has been made by Government Deputies here today about the current activation and training schemes, and the Minister, Deputy Burton, has heard me speak on this issue previously. Let me set the record straight, because the Minister fails to set it straight when she speaks about JobBridge. Of the €14 million the Minister has allocated to the youth guarantee, €7.5 million will be additional funding for JobBridge. JobBridge, in its current form, has no place in any youth guarantee, if it is to be genuine. It is €7.5 million to provide more free labour to companies. Where is the contribution of those companies?

In recent times I have noted that whenever the Minister speaks about JobBridge, she prefaces it with the words "the very successful". At what is it successful? It is successful at providing the Government with cover for its abject failure to provide real jobs, providing employers - including those making high profits - with a supply of free labour, displacing paid employment opportunities and depressing wages.

The youth guarantee agreed at EU level in July 2013 commits to the Minister and others to ensure that all young people under the age of 25 years receive an offer of good-quality employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. The youth guarantee should be about real employment, high-quality training and education. JobBridge, in its current form, is not that. Forecourt assistants, waitresses, housekeeping, car valeting, food operatives and telesales assistants are the sort of positions advertised on the JobBridge website. It does not take 40 hours a week for nine, or even 18, months to learn to clean a car, change a bed, carry plates or flip a burger. All of these jobs are relatively quick to learn and they include hard work, for which people should be paid and for which employers are willing to pay.

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