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

I thank the Deputy. I have a number of questions and thank the Minister for the briefing, which was useful even though the European Union does not have a huge amount of competence in respect of social policy. In particular, I wish to concentrate on one point the Minister already has highlighted and which was reported in the media yesterday, namely, the proposed European Union youth guarantee. While it sounds good, the detail is not available on what precisely it means or what sort of money will be spent. The European Commission examined this proposal and indicated it would allocate a budget of €4 million to it. Given the huge number of unemployed young people across Europe - I believe the figure is a colossal 7.5 million and rising at present - that would be 50 cent per person. Unless money is to come from somewhere else, this scheme will go nowhere. The International Labour Organization suggested that for Ireland alone, such a scheme, which entailed a commitment to young people that they would be offered a job, training or educational opportunity within three months of being made redundant or failing to get a job, basically being unemployed, would cost Ireland approximately €300 million or €400 million to operate and to have the proper effect. From where will this money come?

Will it be in place next year during Ireland's EU Presidency term so that young people can look forward to some form of labour market activation? In Ireland there are 80,000 young people unemployed, a figure that increases at the end of each school term.

One EU programme is called Youth on the Move. Figures from the latest Quarterly National Household Surveydemonstrate that 96,000 young people between the ages of 20 and 34 have literally disappeared from the workforce. They have not shown up as unemployed or returned to study. That suggests they are certainly on the move, getting out of here. This fact highlights the urgency of a need for a commitment to proper funding to ensure jobs are created and proper training and educational opportunities are given so young people can access jobs. Where will the moneys come from for these programmes? Has the Minister had discussions with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation? Has there been any discussion with the troika to allow the funding suggested by the International Labour Organisation to be spent on this programme until the unemployment level is properly addressed?