Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is the hope. One of the problems is that even with the reduced social welfare payment to those young people some of them do not qualify for opportunities such as community employment immediately, while in some cases people on the Youthreach scheme, which starts before people leave school, can have a greater income than those who are on the live register and who are in search of employment and not able to access it. Can that anomaly be addressed? There is a huge increase in the number of people in casual work, the under-employed in Irish society. Many of those people take up work just to remain close to the workplace or to have a few extra bob, but in many cases they also need access to the training and opportunities available to those who are full-time unemployed. What mechanisms can we put in place to capture those people? While there might be full-time schemes available, such schemes would force them out of their casual or part-time employment. There are a range of issues arising from CE and Youthreach, but the estimate is positive because the number of people who are in some type of training is increasing. The more spaces are available, the more people are not díomhaoin or idle. They are at least taking a step towards reconnection with the jobs market, if only the jobs were there.