Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I am my party's spokesperson on enterprise, trade and employment and for the past number of months I have been exhorting the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to take proactive and positive steps in respect of this matter. On all occasions, the Tánaiste indicated to me that she was working in conjunction with the Minister for Education and Science to see what could be done. However, the budget does not appear to bestow any great credence on that assertion. The budget contains many references to places on courses, etc. However, most courses are bursting at the seams. How, therefore, are we supposed to get people back to work or encourage them to retrain or return to education?

It is peculiar that, in the context of the €50 and €100 reductions in weekly income, this is the one area in which the Government wielded the axe in a manner that was even more vicious than suggested in the McCarthy report. Why was that the case?

It would have been better if the Minister had, in conjunction with the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, reconsidered the position with regard to the back to work and back to education allowances. In addition, the Government should do away with the nonsense of putting in place bureaucratic hurdles which prevent people from taking up training or educational opportunities for three or six months. If a person wishes to return to education, he or she should be allowed to do so. He or she should not be obliged to jump through hoops or be made to sign on for social welfare before being able to avail of a training or educational opportunity. All the obstacles should be removed. Repackaging the old solutions is a waste of time because circumstances have changed.

Ireland has the second highest rate of unemployment among young people in western Europe. One third of men under the age of 25 and one quarter of all young people are unemployed. I cannot see how the proposal before the House is going to help. It would be fine and dandy if opportunities were available. Where are those opportunities? How can people obtain meaningful training opportunities? It is no use putting someone in a room, giving them a telephone and explaining how to make or receive a call or record a message. The training opportunities offered to young people must be meaningful in nature and must lead on to something positive. We must also find a way to allow people to participate in education. The Government's response to the current difficulties has been completely inadequate. In the context of scale, it has been deficient and from the perspective of effort, it has been abysmal. As Deputy Sherlock stated, the Government lacks imagination and vision. Both of these are critical.

The Labour Party brought forward a document relating to this matter. The Labour Party finance spokesperson, Deputy Joan Burton, will speak further on this. We spent ages trying to get agreement for graduate and back to work schemes and internships at local authorities and public bodies. I raised this at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment. We invest a major amount of money in our education system and produce top class graduates. I spoke to someone yesterday about fourth level education, an area that might become very productive. What do we do with these people?

This proposal is a charter for emigration. I can name areas affected in my constituency. My uncles said the one thing they got from de Valera was a one way ticket and they never came back after leaving in 1949, 1953, 1954 and 1956. This is a reversion to a tried and trusted policy when there is a problem. It is made so difficult to remain that people emigrate. We lose a generation of people with skills and education. If we are to get out of the problem we are in, education is the key and these people will be part of the rejuvenation. For the sake of a measly few euro, we could sink. It is time we got something going in this regard.

Those who complete college need work experience. If one has completed a degree, one either progresses to a masters degree or needs work experience to progress to a job. These people do not need further education and training but they will now be left in limbo. At the end of 2006, there were only 24,000 categorised as unemployed young people. There has been more than a trebling of the figure. Last April, 2,000 places in the workplace scheme were announced. Of these, 500 were for people under 25. That was welcome because it was a recognition of the situation. However, the programme never got out of the traps. It was like a greyhound that lay down in that trap when one expected it to cross the line 30 seconds later. Nothing happened. By 1 December, approximately 129 people had taken part in it. Deputy Upton knows more about this subject than me, having worked in the higher education sector. That amounts to one work placement for every 3,300 people on the live register.

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