David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

Can the Minister confirm that 20% of those who are unemployed are under the age of 25? Does she agree that the scrapping of this scheme has robbed such people of any hope of getting employment? Can she tell me why the scheme has been abandoned at a time when the rate of unemployment in this country is the second highest in the European Union? Why has the Government decided to abandon young people and a scheme that seemed to be working well? Was there evidence to suggest that the scheme was a failure in some way? If so, why was it maintained for so long? How many people are now on the short-term enterprise allowance scheme, which replaced the previous scheme?

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