Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The youth guarantee was negotiated under the Irish Presidency. A sum of €3 billion will be provided by the European Social Fund and a new budget line of €3 billion will also be provided. We will submit our plan to the EU by the end of 2013. An interdepartmental group has been set up in this regard comprising the Departments of Social Protection, Education and Skills, Public Expenditure and Reform, Children and Youth Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Taoiseach and our Department, and they are all working on the plan.

It is important, though, to acknowledge 1,600 jobs a week were being lost in the three years before we took office but now the economy is creating 1,200 jobs per week. Those jobs are being taken up by young people as well. There has been a positive change in employment over the past 12 months.

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