Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise with the Tánaiste the issue of youth unemployment. The youth unemployment rate in Ireland now stands at 59%, which means that for every five young people in Ireland, three of them have no job.

The EU average is 17%. It is considered to be extremely high in Spain at 40%, while in the UK, the rate is 14%.

I am sure the Tánaiste will agree that young people have been unfairly targeted over the course of this pandemic. They have been working incredibly hard within their own families and communities over the past year and over the past number of years they have changed Ireland for the better with their activism, engagement and campaigning. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman said yesterday that it was the energy and activism of young people that brought the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill to the Houses of the Oireachtas this week and he is right. We saw what happened earlier this year with their activism around the leaving certificate.

Our fear in the Labour Party is that we are losing a generation again, as we did ten years ago. What we and the National Youth Council of Ireland, NYCI, are asking for is a task force on youth unemployment. The Government needs to take this issue seriously because in the economy and in the country presented to these young people before the pandemic, 40% of young people under 30 were in insecure employment and far too many were in insecure accommodation. They are looking at a return to "normal" which means insecure jobs and high rents and many of them are wondering why they should hang around. We lost a generation ten years ago; we cannot afford to lose another one. We have a youth unemployment or joblessness rate of 59%. This falls within the ministerial responsibilities of the Tánaiste. What priority is he giving to this issue? Will he listen to the NYCI and establish a task force? What is he, as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and his Government doing to tackle the issue of youth unemployment in Ireland?

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