Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State has presented a lot of interesting information and ideas on how he sees his role. He is as familiar as anyone with the problem of youth unemployment. There is a lack of urgency across Europe concerning this matter. I hope that in his new role the Minister of State will try to tackle that problem urgently. According to those involved in youth work, both here and abroad, many young people are disengaging. There are 2,249 people on the live register in my own area of Tallaght. In the neighbouring constituency, there are 1,223 on the live register in Clondalkin. However, a significant number of young people are not signing on. They are outside the system and are disengaging, which will cause difficulties. I can guarantee that that is happening right across Europe as well. It is clearly urgent that we deal with this problem. How does the Minister of State propose to speed up and front-load youth employment initiatives, including the youth guarantee? How can we instil urgency in dealing with the difficulties involved? Can the Minister of State outline what the Government will do to speed up and expand such initiatives?

The Minister of State referred to social inclusion. Role models are the key for those who are excluded from society. From our local authority work we know what can be done about that. There is no point in local or national government discussing the matter unless they create specific plans. For instance, South Dublin County Council put Travellers in front-line positions such as customer care. People with disabilities are also being put in front so that the public meet them. The Government should come up with novel ideas in this area.

One of the areas we examined in trying to deal with youth unemployment was the use of JobBridge interns. We had the example of 14 Departments employing 228 interns, but not one of them was kept on due to the jobs embargo. What message does that send out to the rest of society if the Government is not taking a lead? Whom can we ask to take the lead if the Administration does not do so?

The Minister of State talked about cross-Border initiatives and he is familiar with the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.