Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the members of the panel for their presentation. I have long been impressed with the five targets set out in EU 2020 and I was wondering when we might get a progress report on them. It is nice to have this in front of us.

I have a number of short questions. We seem to be doing well in achieving the targets set out in the action plan for jobs. However, the unemployment figure remains very high. Some of that relates to structural change. Ms Pauline Mulligan might answer on this point. Will she comment on how we are faring in achieving change at a structural level that will translate into jobs?

My next question relates to the Momentum placements. My experience of this is that they are excellent but they are for people who are more than one year out of work, which is a flaw. I had reason to meet a group of approximately 90 people recently who begged for these placements, but quite a number of those people were under one year out of work. A good suggestion was put forward in this respect and it might be considered. If all the placements are not taken up and it seems that 20% are not filled by people who are out of work for more than a year, could those placements be given to people who have been out of work for under a year? Will the witnesses comment on that suggestion?

I am concerned about the figure Mr. Callinan gave that one in every 24 of our households are jobless. That is a damning figure. Such unemployment permeates every aspect of life, from the child going to school to the teenager to the ethos of the family. Can the witnesses give us a profile of those families? Are there specific initiatives being targeted at those families? How many of those families have been very long-term unemployed? A profile of them would be useful.