Mr. Paul Healy:

I thank the Deputy. On his specific question about youth unemployment, we are dealing with that under three headings. The first of these is cross-sector employability, namely, helping people to achieve a movement, a career transition, from the affected sectors, particularly the customer-facing sector, into growth opportunities in technology and other parts of the economy. The second heading relates to how the work we do is very close to employment. We are working hand-in-hand with employers so we are seeing, almost in real time, the skills gaps, the jobs they are trying to fill and so on. We are helping to match those with suitable jobseekers we are upskilling. The last heading relates to work placement. It is not just an isolated training programme which might be taken online, this is fully integrated with work. The places we offer to jobseekers and to the very concerning numbers of youth unemployed come with a mandatory work placement, where they are being hosted among 1,200 businesses which are voluntarily supporting us. In respect of many of these schemes, particularly in technology, we are seeing a conversion rate to employment of 80% or more. Therefore it is about quick interventions, not letting the problem fester over time and not having a long-term youth unemployment legacy arising from this pandemic.