Dan Boyle (Green Party)

I have seen written contributions that confirm the Minister's view. I accept that the Minister's remarks gave a sense of the committee as a whole acting in a partisan way. That needs to be clarified and I will be happy to ask the Minister to do so.

A debate on school leaving and employment levels is necessary and I hope it can be held in the short time we have left before the summer recess. The last lost generation, as expressed by Senator Coffey, was my own generation in the 1980s, when unemployment and emigration rates were higher. An exercise in comparing and contrasting and in examining what we can do to avoid this happening again is something the House would be well served in doing.