Michael McCarthy (Labour)

He is someone who might have a insight into youth unemployment, an appalling aspect of the current economic downturn. Returning to the dark, black and bleak days of the 1980s when we lost a generation of people to emigration owing to high unemployment is something we absolutely need to avoid, an issue on which there is consensus in the House.

I have become an active supporter of a Facebook campaign entitled, Grants for mature students. A number of individuals in NUIG, some of whom are present in the Visitors Gallery, are looking at the Access programme and the possibility of allowing mature students into third level institutions. It is clear from the current economic downturn that the place to be for many is back in third level institutions, they be institutes of technology or universities. The Government needs to look at ways of providing supports for those who have been made unemployed. It would be much better if we could provide grants for mature students and as much financial support as we can to up-skill and retrain them and give them a qualification. The only thing that is certain about this recession is that we will come out of it. It is a question of how well equipped we will be when that happens. What we do now will have an impact in that regard.

I have constituent who is in the fifth year of a degree course in University College Cork. That person left the workplace and has a young family but they never received one cent from the State in going back to do that degree which is nearing completion. They are on a placement in a hospital and will be paid by the HSE. That individual obviously has a burning desire and ambition to improve. Schemes such as the back to education scheme were designed in a very different economic climate and could not possibly have taken cognisance of people's circumstances today. The individual to whom I referred had to find as much part-time work as they could, has to go through the process of travelling to a university 50 miles from home and depend on casual employment to complete their degree. That is not good enough. They could easily have elected to revert to the social welfare system. Why not offer some other form of full-time education programme? Why pay people to stay at home and do nothing? A change of mind-set is required.

Just 257 people have taken up job placements under the FÁS work placement programme, despite moves to attract people to the scheme. The most recent figures show that there are 995 work placements available, in spite of a decision by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to relax the eligibility requirements. The slow take-up of place on such a scheme in the current environment almost beggars belief. The Government needs to look at this issue. Large numbers of unemployed people whom I meet in west Cork are completely unaware of the scheme. Not only do we need it, but we also need to communicate its importance, the eligibility criteria and advise people on how they can become involved.

In my home town of Dunmanway we have an employer who is ceasing operations and transferring them to Macroom. These two towns are in different Dáil constituencies, but that is neither here nor there. Job losses in a small town leave a black hole in the local economy. The Tánaiste met a delegation from the area. If an arm of the State such as the IDA can promote a situation where employers can leave one town and move to another, that has huge socioeconomic implications for the town they leave. We wish any town that attracts jobs in the current climate the very best, but when that type of thing happens, it is ominous for rural towns.

The social welfare office in Dunmanway closed three years ago owing to the untimely death of the branch manager. The office has never been reopened, as a result of which people in the town now have to travel to other towns in west and north-west Cork in order to sign on for and collect social welfare payments. I know there is a ban on recruitment in the public service, but the reality is we must relax the ban, as practical circumstances should override such a policy. We were in a very different situation in 2007. Many of those on the live register in the area do not have access to transport. We do not have interconnecting orbital routes in a rural area. It is very difficult for people to go elsewhere and pick up social welfare payments. I ask the Minister of State to refer to this in his response.

Senator Bacik rightly points out the onus on us to provide policies and to show the way out of this jobs crisis. Our pre-budget submission considered enterprise support, including a PRSI scheme for new jobs, an additional 60,000 training and work experience placements and the fast-tracking of labour-intensive capital projects. I hope the Minister of State will take these points on board.