Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate that but I am speaking to the Minister in his capacity as a member of the relevant Cabinet committee. He mentioned the JobBridge scheme. In many cases it is being treated as a means of cheap labour by employers. I take the Minister's point that the thinking behind the JobBridge scheme, which in principle is a good scheme, is to enable people to enter employment so they can acquire some experience. Unfortunately in many cases the employer looks at it from the opposite point of view, which is as a means to acquire cheap labour, and in too many cases the people being taken on are those with experience. I suggest to the Minister that he suggests to the Cabinet subcommittee, in particular to the Minister, Deputy Burton, that there is value in considering altering the JobBridge scheme to focus on people under the age of 25 so it can genuinely help those it was originally designed to help.

Will the Minister consider the recommendation made today by the National Youth Council to commission a feasibility study on how a youth guarantee scheme along the lines of the scheme operating in the UK would work here?

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