Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Allow me to continue. Between one fifth and one quarter of those on the live register are young people under 25, most of whom are male. A crisis also exists regarding the governance of FÁS, to which €1 billion will be allocated in next week's budget. The Taoiseach referred to this unit as being cross-cutting and as identifying emerging trends and policy issues. It is able to give the stamp of a Taoiseach in power to efforts to pull together different Departments, which is not a bad idea. Should the Taoiseach not lead a drive against what is happening to young people who are only being offered the dole by the Government? There are very few places, no internships, no training and nothing for the private or public sectors or NGOs to take on young people and give them a chance for working opportunities. Would this unit not be the ideal mechanism under the Taoiseach's leadership to further such a drive? I note that Professor Blanchflower of the IMF was in Dublin two weeks ago. All the evidence from the last recession and recessions globally is that if a young person, particularly a young man, goes on the dole at 18 or 19, six months of unemployment turns into a year, which then becomes a year and a half. Those affected do not build up experience and consequently cannot get work, even when the upturn comes, because they are not fitted for it.

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