Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests. This is an important debate. I am compiling a report on the youth guarantee for the committee and everything our guests are saying will feed into that. If, therefore, I ask very specific questions, they will know why.

The areas on which I wish to comment are: the practical and operational details of the youth guarantee; the successes and failures which have occurred in other states and the lessons we can learn from these; funding; and the level of roll-out required in this State. Having considered the research material, I have discovered that the failure of youth guarantee programmes in other states came down the public policies that were pursued. I refer in this regard to the public employment service infrastructure. Are our guests of the view that public employment structures in Ireland are both up to standard and fit for purpose in the context of trying to deal with the youth guarantee? How will these structures need to adapt? Will additional funding be required? Who will assess the success of the public employment structures into the future? Will our guests indicate how the roll-out of the youth guarantee can be monitored effectively - in the context of job creation and placement services - to ensure it will be of good quality and will not merely be a tick-the-box exercise? Do the public employment services have the capacity to deliver on the guarantee and to monitor the various matters relating to it?

Mr. Doorley referred to youth unemployment figures and indicated that he is considering these in the context of young people who were educated to primary level and junior certificate level and those in disadvantaged groups. He indicated that failures occurred in Sweden and Finland in terms of successfully targeting disadvantaged groups. Will he inform the committee with regard to how we might reach out to young people who are far removed from the labour market at present or who do not traditionally come on the radar of the public employment services? Mr. Doorley referred to a role for youth organisations in that regard. The Council recommendation on the youth guarantee states that we should define the corresponding starting point to deliver the youth guarantee for young people. Do youth organisations constitute an alternative starting point to the public employment services and, if so, how does Mr. Doorley believe they might deliver in areas in respect of which those services fail?

Mr. Higgins referred to public employment services and the funding thereof. He indicated that even if there were matching funding for the €6 billion included under the youth employment initiative, this would be insufficient in the context of trying to deal with youth unemployment on a European level. How should this matter be addressed? There is a danger it could just be a flash in the pan and that people will say: "We are going to deal with youth unemployment and we will make some money available but we will not provide matching funds." How can we ensure the guarantee will not essentially be a damp squib? From where might we attract matching funding? What kind of financial commitment should the Government make to roll out what is envisaged? What schemes should it roll out as part of its initiative in this regard?

I will leave it at that. I am very interested in the practical and operational details. If, however, our guests have views on particular failures relating to the schemes rolled out in other states and what we might learn from these, I would appreciate hearing them.