Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Any employment supports made available by the Government are to be welcomed. The youth unemployment rate is 30% – only because so many youths are emigrating – and the rates in Greece, Spain and Italy are over 50%. The Minister states the impact of job losses is severe on the youth. However, the impact of austerity is very dramatic for them. It is more dramatic than the impact in a normal climate of job losses. Many young people's first economic activity is in the domestic economy. At present, the domestic economy has failed to recover, for a number of reasons and not only because of upward-only rent reviews. Rates are increasing and energy costs are still increasing. The banks are still closed and it is still impossible to get money from a bank. Does the Minister not believe that while the Government can make available all the supports it likes through its initiative, it will be very difficult to arrive at the good figures it desires until it deals with the domestic economy?

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