Dr. Paul Redmond:

Obviously work experience is good. When young workers acquire experience it is good. There is also the counter-argument in favour of sub-minimum youth rates, which is that if we have a sub-minimum youth rate, it encourages early school leaving. This is not really the case in Ireland anymore. It is a balance. We know it is good for young workers to acquire experience but, at the same time, if they are still in education, as 80% of sub-minimum youth rate workers are, the amount of experience they can acquire is quite limited.