Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Is my telephone on? Sorry about that.

It is rather complex. We might revisit this because I am not sure what criteria central Government will use in drawing down funds. Are we building this up as a solution to a problem that has already been created by the children who leave school before the age of 18?

What would we do if we could not look at what our Nordic cousins are doing? The problem is that they pay a large amount of taxes. The people of this country want the services but do not seem to be able to come to terms with the cost of the provision of these services.

I know intimately the work of Youthreach. It is a phenomenally successful concept and the staff who work in it are well able to relate to the client base. Everyone involved in Youthreach should take a bow. I am not as familiar with all the other programmes as I am with Youthreach, as a former CDVEC employee. My questions are about the structures and whether we are coming too late to help that coterie of people, namely, the early school leavers who will become long-term unemployed.