The following motion was moved by Deputy Jonathan O'Brien on Tuesday, 19 November 2013:That Dáil Éireann:notes that: — our young people want to work and contribute but are starved of the opportunity of quality employment; — 64,700 young people are officially unemployed; — the unemployment rate for persons aged under 25 is almost 30%; — many thousands more are not in employment, training or education but not captured in the official statistics; — the number of young people in employment has fallen by 18,000 since Fine Gael and the Labour Party took office; — since 2010, 105,000 young people have emigrated; — under the Government the rate of overall emigration and net outward migration has increased; — budget 2014 only provides an additional €14 million for the youth guarantee scheme; and — according to the National Youth Council of Ireland, budget 2014 will, at best, provide 3,250 new labour activation places for persons aged under 25; and calls on the Government to: — adequately fund a youth guarantee scheme that provides all young people with a good quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed; — allocate €400 million for this purpose, as recommended by the National Youth Council of Ireland and the International Labour Organization funding model; — make youth employment a key priority and theme for the Action Plan for Jobs 2014; — set annual targets for youth employment and reduction in emigration; and — reverse the cuts to the basic rate of jobseeker’s allowance for persons aged under 26 years that were introduced in budget 2014.

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