Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste is very welcome. It is great that he is here in advance of next week's meeting of the General Affairs Council. I will begin by speaking about youth unemployment. We learned today that this country has a youth unemployment rate of 34%. The Tánaiste mentioned that the equivalent figures for Greece and Spain are approaching 50%. The Seanad was honoured last week to be addressed by Professor Pissarides, who is a Nobel economics laureate, on the subject of youth unemployment in a recession. I was struck by some of his wise words in the context of the decisions we have to make, the opportunity we will have when we assume the Presidency of the EU and the funding commitments we have to make. He was cautious about the youth guarantee because he felt it was expensive. As far as I know - I might be wrong in this regard - countries like Finland and Sweden which are taking this approach are investing approximately 5% of GDP in this area. Professor Pissarides said that he feels that a four-month timeframe for employment or training is too short, given the scale of the problem. Ireland has a long-term unemployment problem at this stage. I would like to hear the Tánaiste's comments on that. Is he open to taking this approach on board? Can he see a way of influencing Europe in this regard?

It is interesting that Professor Pissarides believes we have a massive opportunity to persuade the powers that be in the troika to split the budget between investment spending and recurrent spending on things like public service and Civil Service salaries. He feels that a component of the budget should be dedicated to investment spending in certain areas. For example, this week we welcomed the European Investment Bank's decision to provide €50 million in funding towards public private partnerships on school projects. He pointed to all the evidence in the IMF research of the multiplier benefit of public investment programmes, job creation projects and education and training. The Government has committed to some job creation projects, particularly in the green economy. I would like to hear the Tánaiste's thoughts on the decisions we need to make. As Deputy O'Reilly just said, youth unemployment is the greatest crisis of our time. It is a scourge that leaves a mark and a scar on people for a very long time. I would like to hear the Tánaiste's views on how he expects to influence what is done in this area. We have to be careful not to take the youth guarantee on board without being sure it is the best thing for Ireland and for Europe.