Joe O'Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join the previous speakers in thanking the Tánaiste for attending the meeting. I warmly congratulate the Tánaiste on his success in getting a place for Ireland on the United Nations Human Rights Council. It is a great achievement and represents another chapter in the enhancement of Ireland's international role. It is great for the country.

I am happy to hear the Tánaiste reiterate the Irish position that jobs will be central to our Presidency and that job creation is central to our agenda in the next General Affairs Council meeting. It merits repeating that youth unemployment is the greatest crisis of our time. It is in the region of 30% here and as high as 50% in other countries. It is unacceptable that this continues. Is the Tánaiste optimistic that we will get the kind of funding and direct initiatives, on a Europe-wide basis and specifically here, to enhance our ability to deal with youth unemployment? It is dealt with on two levels, at the level of reskilling and retraining and at the level of job creation. The latter is slightly difficult, as it must come from a number of fronts, including the private sector. There must be a direct involvement in creating jobs. Does the Tánaiste think we will get product? Over the course of the Presidency, will there be an initiative of some substance in that area? We are all with the Tánaiste in identifying it as the greatest priority for our country and our Presidency going into the General Affairs Council meeting.

I am happy to know that work has been agreed and is continuing on effective governance in the financial sector.

Ultimately, that might have a satisfactory spin-off for this country and assist the work of the Minister for Finance.

The Tánaiste made interesting and relevant points on the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, which is of significant concern. We support the position he has taken on maintaining the absolute amount. He does not need to be reminded that the Common Agricultural Policy is critical in achieving the 2020 objectives, our employment goals and the regeneration of the economy. As he said, there are member states which want to reduce the absolute amount devoted to the Common Agricultural Policy. Does he think he has built a sufficient set of alliances among like-minded states to hold the position, or as close an amount to it as possible? Having held the overall amount under the Common Agricultural Policy, does he think he will be able to hold the power of discretion for the Government on the spending of our share of the fund? We know best how to apply it to meet the requirements of domestic agriculture rather than have something prescriptive that might not fit in an Irish context. Let me reaffirm that we are very happy with the priorities identified.