Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The plan for young people and to ensure we do not have high levels of youth unemployment when the pandemic is over is three-fold: it is to save as many jobs and businesses as possible; to create new jobs, which we are doing; and to create more educational and training opportunities ranging from higher education to further education to apprenticeships to lifelong learning opportunities. All of that is being done currently and driven forward by Government.

The review of the national development plan, NDP, and Project Ireland 2040 is currently under way. We expect to be in a position in May or June, led by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy McGrath, to publish a revised Project Ireland 2040, a revised NDP. That will run out to 2030. That will allow us to include more projects than are currently in it but it needs to be reviewed because one thing that is very different from when that was launched in Sligo is that we had almost full employment at the time. We are in a very different position now. Obviously, issues like employment and climate action have to move up the agenda and other issues may have to come down the agenda.

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