Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In 1987, the activist Raymond Crotty wrote a book entitled Ireland in Crisis: A Study in Capitalist Colonial Undevelopment. He revealed that, from the foundation of the State until the period he wrote the book, half of all Irish citizens who survived childhood had left the State and emigrated. That is a horrendous figure.

What is the real manifestation of it in communities? I can only talk about my community but I will, in the first instance, talk of my family. My grandfather had to leave his home and work on building sites across England, be apart from his wife and bring back the money to build a modest home in Buncrana. He was away for long periods, leaving behind a heartbroken wife and family. That was not just his story but that of his community. When it came to my father's time, he left his home town of Buncrana before he was 15 years of age to work on the building sites in England to become a man long before his time working in steel fixing and hard labour. Almost all of his peers, all young people in his school photograph, followed that path of emigration to Britain. When it came to my time, I had to leave when I was younger to get work. That has been the story of rural communities throughout the history of the State.

That has been our reality.

In Donegal today, once again the spectre and dark cloud of emigration hangs over us, as 49% of our young people between the age of 18 and 24 are unemployed, according to CSO figures. That masks major emigration in all those communities from the Inishowen peninsula, where I come from, as well as in the north, west and south of Donegal. Every GAA team and soccer team can tell a story of struggling to continue to field senior teams, and there has been a loss of a whole generation of our young people because of a failure of political leaders in the economic crisis. It comes despite the debates and issues we have rehearsed in this forum. That is the scale of the crisis and the reality in the community I come from. I have no doubt the Minister is aware of this as representatives of Fine Gael and Labour are in those communities as well. We all feel the same.

Everybody watches "Reeling in the Years" on television and from time to time I have seen images of the current leadership of the Labour Party when they were student leaders. They were young idealists and people who promised to change Ireland from what had come before it, the Ireland Raymond Crotty had so painfully painted in his book Ireland in Crisis. The current leadership of the Labour Party are in power after what was an unquestionably incompetent Government left us in the way that it did. Nevertheless, the Labour leaders have made abhorrent decisions and choices, looking to allocate €14 million to a youth guarantee scheme while at the same time cutting three times that amount to the youth dole. That reduced some young people's payments to €100 per week. To recap, €14 million has been put to the youth guarantee and tackling the crisis I have outlined along with everybody else. The Government has implemented cuts totalling three times that amount to the dole.

How can the Labour leaders look back to the young activists they were, remembering days of idealism and promise in the Labour Party, while they stand over what has been done? At what point will they admit that it would take €400 million to really have a youth guarantee and keep our young people here, reversing a trend that has occurred throughout our history. That is what it would take and the Government has the power to act. It is about choices. The Government used to blame the troika but it is not here any more; the Government definitely has nobody to blame. The justifications have rung hollow and there is no more room for them.

The Minister must explain this to the next generation of Labour Party activists, who have put a vote of no confidence in the party leadership. They will have to explain how this issue will be changed and how the Labour Party will return to the young people at its roots and the images we have seen in the images of "Reeling in the Years". It is a challenge and the Government has two more years. I appeal to the Labour Party to work with us and others on the left who want to give hope to these young people and provide a future for them. It is a choice and I hope the Government acts on it in the next two years.

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