Dr. Patrick J. Burke:

I will keep it very short. Youth workers need to be put on some kind of a scale that is situated specifically in the public sector. It needs to be linked in with national pay agreements. It is as simple and clear as that. It is the only hope we have of recruiting and retaining good-quality workers.

On unemployment, many of the organisations before this committee have dedicated programmes that work with young people to bring them into employment. We often have nowhere to go to get State funding. It is often funded by the corporate sector or philanthropy. We have tried, for instance, to engage with the Department of Social Protection and it is not always easy. We have this gap. These are often evaluated projects-----