Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Pathways to work includes a number of measures to get people into new jobs. The most important thing they have to do is reskill, which requires training opportunities. That is why my focus, together with that of the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, is on making sure people have the skills and confidence to take on new roles. We will be holding employment and recruitment fairs around the country to match jobseekers with job opportunities that arise. As public health restrictions ease, my Department is starting to ramp up its engagement with jobseekers. We contacted all PUP recipients by telephone and, arising from that process, a number of webinars on employment supports were held. We will see more of that in the coming weeks and months. It was encouraging to see the number on the live register fall to just below 170,000 this week.

10 o’clock

Those are all good signs that people want to get back to work. The most important thing is that we give them the tools to do so, whether that is financial support via the back to work allowance or upskilling and training. In May, one in four people on the PUP was under the age of 25. That is now down to one in ten, which means that young people are getting back to work. That is good news.

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