Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Mar aon le daoine eile, nuair a d'ardaigh mé ceist faoi na daoine atá faoi 25 bliain d'aois, luaigh mé na figiúrí faoin méid de na daoine sin atá as obair faoi láthair, 74,100 daoine. Dar ndóigh, beidh níos mó as obair amach anseo. Chonaic mé fógra tamall ó shin agus chonaic mé go bhfuil níos mó daoine á chur as obair i gCaisleán an Bharraigh inniu mar tá comhlacht mór ag dúnadh agus ag cur 65 daoine ar an scrap heap sin, an dole. Déan buille fé thuairim cé mhéad daoine ina measc iad siúd atá faoi 24. An mbeidh siadsan cláraithe mar daoine dífhostaithe roimh an spriocdáta. Cé mhéad díobh a mbeidh thíos leis maidir leis an liúntas toisc an cinneadh atá glactha ag an Rialtas?

Aontaím leis an méid a bhí le rá ag an Teachta Lee. Luaigh mé níos luaithe gur shíl mé go raibh idirdhealú mídleathach á dhéanamh anseo ó thaobh aois de. Ba mhaith liom dá bhfeiceadh muid duine óg ag tógaint cáis i gcoinne an Rialtais de bharr go bhfuil an idirdhealú seo á dhéanamh. Más saoránach duine agus aois 18 sroichte aige nó aici, is saoránach an duine sin le cearta uile iomlán an shaoránaigh, seachas ceann nó dhó. Mar shampla, ní féidir a bheith mar Uachtarán na tíre seo mura bhuil aois 35 sroichte ag duine. Seachas sin, níl aon eolas agam faoi aon idirdhealú eile a dhéantar i gcóras an Stáit maidir le daoine atá idir 18 agus 24.

I am reiterating what I said earlier so I will not go on for too long because there are other matters to discuss. Deputy Upton mentioned the figures for Dublin South Central. There are 918 people in Ballyfermot alone because the dole office there deals only with Dublin 10. There are no jobs in Ballyfermot and there are no additional training places there. Every community employment course or job initiative programme that was available is over-subscribed. Where are these 918 people, and every young person who will become unemployed after 1 January, to go? They will not have places because the Government schemes have not delivered education, retraining or work placement.

I agree with those Deputies who mentioned graduates. People will qualify next June as engineers, scientists, physicians, computer technicians and what-not and there will be nothing for them to do. The Government has made no plans to create jobs to ensure that the State's investment in those graduates remains here. The only thing the Government seems willing to do is to kick them further away. It is hard enough being a young person starting off in any job, when there are jobs, but worse to be told that the Government will hammer one when one finishes college next June. The Government's alternative seems to be to release the safety valve and send them off on the bád bán, somewhere else in the world and make them somebody else's problem. That is bad economics because the Government will have lost the investment of 18 or 22 years of education in those young people.

I will not quote the Proclamation but cherish the young people means ensuring that when they have finished their education, they get a chance. There is no chance because the Government has not woken up to the fact that post-leaving certificate courses are five times oversubscribed. People cannot get onto the courses available. Most of the people on the courses do not come from Ballyfermot. They come from elsewhere, which is good but it means that there are fewer courses. The FÁS courses in Ballyfermot are out the door. Due to the Government cutbacks in FÁS, there are fewer courses available. There is a logic to that because the construction industry has collapsed so there is no point training hundreds of electricians or bricklayers because there are so many available already.

What training is available for those who finish their leaving certificate next year? Where are the courses? What is the plan for the economy? Is it a knowledge economy? If so, the Government needs to start investing in it but there is no investment. There is nothing for those who get degrees as computer engineers or scientists because two years into this economic crisis the Government has not had the cop on to roll out a proper investment in the future. There is no jobs stimulus package. If we do not start one, other countries will attract the jobs that we have earmarked and we will be left with the dregs and will have to suffer a recession for much longer than we should have to.

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