Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is reasonable to ask what targets the Government has set. The additional spend earmarked in the budget is approximately €260 per unemployed young person. Is that enough for quality training? Is that enough for education? Does the Government have a strategy or has it even discussed the fact that so many people have left and are leaving?

We have welcomed some of the measures put forward by the Government and advocated some of them ourselves. I still think the Taoiseach is remiss in respect of the enormity of the problem. He has been in office for two and a half years so it is a very reasonable question to ask. The number of unemployed young people under the Government's stewardship has increased by 18,000. The response is all stick. There is no incentive and there are no jobs for these young people to go to. They want to work. We should not tar them with the same brush as if there is some sort of plague out there to the effect that because people come from a certain social background, they do not want to work or this is a lifestyle choice.

Can the Government not bring forward more than the generalities of what it is producing? What has this committee on economic recovery and jobs been doing if it has not been setting targets? What about the report card idea? Does he remember the report card?

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