John Kelly (Labour)

I support the call by Senator Reilly for a debate on youth unemployment. The Joint Committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education, of which I am a member, is taking this issue very seriously. We are concerned about emigration among the youth of this country. I have previously suggested that we should give half of social welfare payments to employers in order to employ people but if we are serious about keeping those younger than 25 years old in this country we need to think about more than subsidising employers. I suggest that employers should receive the full payment for any individual under the age of 25 who is on social welfare. At the end of the day there would be a net gain for the country from such an initiative. If we paid a full social welfare payment to an employer in order to employ somebody, he or she would still be paying tax, PRSI and the Universal Social Charge. The issue of self-esteem also arises. In order to retain the qualities we have in this country we need to think seriously. If we are already paying to keep people in bed, we should be doing the same to keep people in work. This House needs to arrange a serious debate on the issue, alongside the debate that is taking place in the Joint Committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education.