Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I proposed to take Questions Nos. 114 and 140 together.

Action Plan for Jobs 2013 contains actions relating to my Department in two specific areas: child care and youth work. With regard to the action relating to child care, including action 235 in the current 2013 plan, I can confirm that in budget 2013, I announced, together with the Minister for Social Protection, a new €14 million investment in an after-school child care programme. This programme will deliver 6,000 after-school places and will provide an important support to qualifying parents in low income families wishing to take up employment. This is a joint initiative between myself and the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton. A pilot will be launched shortly in seven areas with a view to a national roll-out in September 2013.

As regards actions to review structures and funding of youth work services to ensure they support the development of the skills needed by enterprises, my Department has worked with youth services on this objective, and finalisation of a children and young people's policy framework is ongoing and will inform a further review of youth programmes. There is growing recognition of the potential of youth work services to contribute to activation measures. I am very interested in exploring this area further because I believe the youth work services can do a great deal to enhance the employability of young people, especially young people who are very vulnerable and are not engaged in education, employment or training. The youth guarantee will be an important element in reaching out to those young people. Youth work services, while complementary to formal education, reach out to young people in other settings and may be in a position to provide a value-added element that is not, perhaps, available in other activation programmes through the outreach and support they give to young people. I recently met the National Youth Council of Ireland to discuss possible specific approaches to employment for young people.

Action 232 of Action Plan for Jobs 2013 relates specifically to Ireland's Presidency of the EU. As President of the EU Council of Youth Ministers, I have ensured a priority focus on the contribution of quality youth work to the development, well-being and social inclusion of young people and to maximise the potential for youth policy to address the goals of Europe 2020 with specific regard to youth unemployment. We held an Irish EU youth conference during March in which we had a dialogue and consultation with young people around Europe. Approximately 300 young people attended the conference but thousands were consulted throughout Europe before the conference to ask for their specific views on initiatives that would help young people prepare for employment and to be ready to take up employment, education or training. I will also host an expert group meeting in Dublin in June to discuss the issue of youth unemployment and social inclusion.

My Department is working actively to support delivery of the action plan for jobs. I am informed that, to date, there has been ongoing achievement of over 90% of the action plan commitments across Government.

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