Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Next year, there will be more than 20,000 places available specifically for young job seekers at work. That is in addition to the remaining 58,000 places which are available across the various initiatives we are taking. At the end of the day, the provision of places in training, work experience and education is about preparing young people to go to work. Ultimately, what is required is the generation of real jobs with good incomes and futures. That is why we are also succeeding on that front with an additional 3,000 jobs being created every month. I was at the opening of a company providing 100 of those jobs yesterday in the Dublin Docklands. The company has an online recruitment service and already employs 100 young people here, but it will employ an additional 100 people. We need more of that and are seeing more of that.

As far as the Government is concerned, there is nothing more important than the creation of employment and in particular the creation of job opportunities for young people. That is why the Taoiseach and the Minister for Social Protection are in Paris today to discuss this issue at a meeting convened by President Hollande.

See this speech in context