Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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5. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will detail the steps taken to create employment for young people; the impact of these initiatives in terms of employment outcomes; and his views on whether emigration is a life style choice. [24511/13]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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All the work which the Government is doing through the Action Plan for Jobs aims to transform our economy from one that became over dependent on property, construction and debt to one focused on enterprise, innovation and exports. The Action Plan for Jobs is focused on sustaining and creating employment for new entrants to the labour market and the unemployed, many of whom are under 25. There is strong evidence that the plan is working. The IDA has had the best two years in a decade for jobs growth while Enterprise Ireland companies are winning new markets and growing employment significantly. Over the past 15 months, the private sector has added 1,000 jobs per month.

While it is true that there are continued job losses in more traditional sectors that grew disproportionately during the credit bubble, such as construction, financial, insurance and administrative activities, we have seen an increase in employment in sectors targeted by the Action Plan for Jobs, including ICT, digital gaming, tourism and the agrifood sector.

Many of the jobs on offer in these sectors are particularly attractive to young people. In addition, the Government has a range of initiatives to support young people to prepare for employment through job experience and training. These include provision by the Department of Social Protection for over 85,000 job placement, work experience and back to education beneficiaries in 2012, and the JobBridge internship scheme, which has had over 17,400 participants to date, with over 60% of participants securing jobs after their internship. Some 6,077 interns were participating last week and a further 2,189 internships were offered by companies. In Springboard, over 200 courses are available throughout the country designed to meet current and future skills needs in Ireland and in the momentum programme, specific projects will also be available to those under 25 to assist them to enter or return to employment. Other initiatives include the ICT action plan, offering training and conversion courses for the ICT sector and the EU youth guarantee being developed by the Minister for Social Protection.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

My Department is also keen to support young entrepreneurs and, in this context, initiatives such as Enterprise Ireland's competitive start fund and new frontiers programme, along with the microenterprise loan fund, will all contribute to supporting young entrepreneurs. Last week, we commenced a consultation on how we can better promote entrepreneurship in Ireland and we will be looking in particular at the scope to increase youth entrepreneurship.

The Government recognises that there has been an increase in net emigration, particularly among young people, since the start of the recession. In the year to April 2012 net migration reached 34,000, of whom 26,000 are Irish nationals. This reflects the impact of the crash which over a three year period saw the loss of over 250,000 jobs in the private sector. The concerted drive to make employment a top priority across the whole of Government is helping to alter that outlook for employment. Employment in the private sector is now growing by 1,000 per month. The Government's aim is that, by continuing the process of transforming our economy step by step through the Action Plan for Jobs, we can provide opportunities for employment in Ireland.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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At the last Question Time, the Minister of State, Deputy John Perry, stated that emigration was matter of choice for many people leaving the State. Choice is about options and having the ability to choose between working here or working abroad. With the level of unemployment here, for many it is not a choice. In the two years to the end of 2012, 25,000 people under the age of 25 lost their jobs. In those two years, 38,000 people under the age of 25 left the workforce. It is clear that a significant sector of Irish society and the youth cohort have lost their jobs and left the workforce entirely. They have been forced to emigrate. I do not know if the Minister of State has had the opportunity to read the excellent report from the National Youth Council of Ireland in the past ten days. It states that 300,000 people have emigrated in the past four years.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy should frame a question.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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That is startling figure and a shocking reflection on what is happening in society. It is very important people realise the gravity of what is involved. I ask the Minister of State the timescale for replacing the jobs lost by 25,000 people until the end of last year. When will the youth guarantee be implemented and will part of it be a guarantee of a job?

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I will provide some figures and interrogate them correctly. I acknowledge the report to which Deputy Tóibín refers. Of the 87,000 people who have emigrated from Ireland in the year up to April 2012, less than half of them, 40,600 people, were not Irish. Many of them were non-Irish people who came to Ireland over the previous decade or so for work and are now returning home. The CSO figures show 53,000 people came to Ireland last year and 20,600 were Irish nationals returning home. Extrapolating from the figures, the years from 1992 to 2012 show a certain number of Irish people choosing to emigrate for career or personal reasons. I beg indulgence of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I will call the Minister of State again.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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We must distinguish between the gross figure and the net figure and extrapolate the number of people who are not Irish and who are returning to their home countries to provide a more realistic view.

With regard to youth unemployment, of the 68,000 people within the age category to which Deputy Tóibín refers up to 2012, the 15 to 19-year-old category contains 18,500 people who are unemployed, with 49,500 in the category between 21 to 24. The idea of these schemes and the best way to ensure people do not emigrate is to ensure there is a place for people to reskill, retrain or remain within formal education. That gives them the best chance of an opportunity. There is a myriad of schemes, training programmes and educational places doing that at present.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Many of the people in the figures are not Irish nationals. They may be Polish or Lithuanian people who came to Ireland, worked here for ten years, put down roots, raised families and then find themselves unable to get a job. We are entitled to use those figures to reflect the economic situation. These people should not be left out of the economic figures when trying to get an understanding of the health of the economy. The net figures show a major outflow of people from the State due to the economic situation. The point we make is that we can create as many programmes as we like but the question of whether the Government tackles three issues - collapsed demand, infrastructural gaps that need investment and the major costs and inefficiencies in doing business in the State vis-à-vis our competitors - will determine whether we get back on our feet with regard to the creation of jobs. We need over 2% growth in the State to create jobs. The economy will create jobs, not a proliferation of jobs action plans, etc.

Perhaps the Minister of State forgot to reply on the last occasion on my question of when the youth guarantee will be in place and whether the Government will include as part of it the guarantee of a job.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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The bottom line is that we want as many young people to be given the opportunity and we must create a supply of courses and upskilling. Let us take the figure of 18,500 in the 15 to 19-year-old category. Why are 18,500 young people between the ages of 15 and 19 unemployed? There is no reason they cannot fit into a course, a placement, an internship or continuing education to ensure we can extrapolate from the figure of 18,500, which would cause a serious dent in the youth unemployment figure.

The same applies to the category of those aged 20 to 24. When figures are quoted, the language being used refers to Irish people emigrating. It is important to interrogate the figures and extrapolate from them because there is a natural rate of people who are welcome to this country, who work in this country and will return to their native lands.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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But this is an unnatural trend.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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It is important to acknowledge it. The demand side issue to which the Deputy refers is being tackled. The Action Plan for Jobs includes a number of regulatory measures to encourage business. It is acknowledged that demand has bottomed out but the Government is trying to put in place a set of measures to address the 250,000 jobs lost between 2000 case in 2011. These jobs were allied, for the most part, to the construction sector so we must invest in new areas of opportunity in the sector. Those young people, who are working in mines in Australia as we speak because they have a construction related degree, will come back and have other areas of opportunity. The Government is not resting on its laurels.

With regard to the youth guarantee, it is my understanding, and the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, can clarify it further, that this is still part of the negotiations under the Irish Presidency of the European Union.