Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I tabled two amendments dealing with section 9 but they come under section 10 for some reason. They are amendments Nos. 15 and 16 but they relate to section 9.

This provision is discriminatory. The Government is adding to what the Fianna Fáil Administration did in the 2010 budget. I recall members of the Minister's party, which was in opposition at the time, leaping up and down and stating that they were completely opposed to the measure being introduced by the then Government. To a large extent, they were able to put the argument against changes to jobseeker's allowance which would establish a different standard for young people in a much better way than I ever could do. What is being done now is much worse than what was done in 2010. The Minister is cutting the allowance for young people by 30%, which is an utter disgrace.

Outside of those who are caught in the poverty traps that have been created, people in this country have a clear incentive to work. Successive reports have shown that this incentive takes the form of the increase in income which comes from being in employment. However, the Minister is penalising young people supposedly because they are sitting at home waiting for the work to come to them. The work is not there and the various reports have shown that there are 32 unemployed people for every job vacancy. It is not possible to squeeze people into jobs that do not exist. In addition, it is not possible to squeeze all of the young people to whom I refer into training opportunities or education courses that do not exist. While we welcome the announcement of additional places, these do not in any way match up with the number of people who are unemployed. For example, more than 20,000 young people are unemployed but the Minister only announced an extra 3,500 places. The number of places and the number of people seeking them simply do not fit with each other.

The savings that will be obtained as a result of the proposed cut will not be used to create additional opportunities. Rather, the moneys involved will disappear into the black hole of the Exchequer. I referred to this matter at length on Second Stage and what I said stands. I will not repeat what I stated at that point, particularly in view of the fact that quite a number of Deputies wish to highlight how disgraceful this change is. I ask the Minister to listen to the points of view of a variety of organisations prior to the Bill's final passage. I refer, for example, to the National Youth Council of Ireland and Focus Ireland. The latter has shown that the number of young people who are homeless has increased as a result of the austerity measures that have been introduced. The measure before the House is going to force even more young people into homelessness. On the basis of that fact alone, I urge the Minister to row back on it. She must also recognise that what is being done is forcing many young people to emigrate.

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