Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have a few brief questions and comments. They are not strictly directed to anyone, but our panellists may want to comment. The Quarterly National Household Survey, QNHS, was mentioned in terms of the increase in employment, but one of its features that has emerged today points to a significant decrease in employment among young people, particularly those in the 25-34 year bracket. For the European Commission, one of the headline indicators is youth unemployment. While employment across the board seems to have increased, it has decreased significantly among that cohort.

The European Anti-Poverty Network, EAPN's presentation on social inclusion mentioned that social welfare supports had been cut, trapping people in poverty and undermining their capacity to seek work. How will the recent budget cuts to young people's social welfare payments affect their capacity to seek employment? How does this age discrimination affect our social indicators of active inclusion?

There seem to be differences between the information on part-time work and working hours. One presentation referred to the increase in precarious work, flexible working hours and low pay whereas another referred to the positive role played by flexible forms of work. A recent study showed that many young people who emigrated had a job at the time. This stems from part-time, precarious employment that does not lead to career progression. Will our guests elaborate? Sometimes, a few hours per week is a step on the job ladder, but if it does not provide career progression and it leads to young people emigrating to pursue their career paths, it can be problematic.