Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

Yesterday during an interesting debate in this House on the environment the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, regrettably made an unprecedented attack on the political independence of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security. Senator O'Toole and I, with other Members of the House, are members of that committee which has acted in the best interests of improving our targets and objectives in respect of climate change. The committee has produced various reports on issues such as electric vehicles and foreshore licences. It proposed to Government a Bill to improve the mechanisms to allow the development of wind farms, to which the Government turned a blind eye. The Minister's attack on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security is most regrettable.

More than 50,000 students are today sitting their final examinations in the leaving certificate. The junior certificate examinations finished yesterday. Thousands of other students have also just completed third level courses and have graduated. There are currently 85,620 people under the age of 25 years unemployed in the State, almost 3,000 of whom live in my constituency in Waterford. Some 70,000 people under 25 years have been on the live register for more than 12 months. I am concerned, as should be every other Member of this House, that we are at serious risk of losing a generation of young, talented, educated people who are disillusioned and feel abandoned. It is important we have a debate on the prospects for young people here. We need to give them hope and to come up with solutions. A debate on issues such as work sharing, apprenticeships and so on would be of benefit. As I stated yesterday, many apprentices employed in the construction industry were unable to complete their apprenticeships.

Currently thousands of houses under local authority management are abandoned because the local authorities do not have the resources to refurbish them. Surely, we can think outside the box and come up with new ideas in terms of employing people from the construction sector, master tradesmen and apprentices, to refurbish those houses which could then be let to the thousands of people on the housing waiting lists. Also, there is much construction work to be done in communities and schools and while resources may be scarce there are on the dole thousands of qualified trades people and apprentices who have served two or three years on apprenticeships with no prospect of work and whose only alternative is to emigrate. We must provide people with hope. I ask that the Leader provide time for an urgent debate on this matter. I propose by way of amendment to the Order of Business that we have that debate today.

Perhaps also the Leader will provide time prior to the recess for a debate on the democratic deficit here. Three constituencies, Waterford, Donegal South-West and Dublin South, are currently under-represented. People in these constituencies are entitled to full representation in the national Parliament. I ask that the Leader provide time for such a debate.