Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Emigration is the most pressing issue in Ireland. The CSO indicates that 87,100 people emigrated from Ireland between April 2011 and April 2012. This harks back to the worst days of the 1950s, when 1,000 people a week left our shores.

In addition to this brain drain of the best and brightest of our youth, the level of youth unemployment reached 40% last year. Unemployment rates climbed as high as 50% among those aged between 15 and 24 years in Limerick city and County Donegal. The census revealed that 82,000 people under the age of 25 years were out of work. An entire generation of highly educated and motivated people face a drastic choice between emigration or unemployment at home. The Government's pre-budget initiatives and the famous jobs initiative promised much, but they have had little impact on the live register in respect of those under the age of 25 years. All around Europe huge numbers of young people are unemployed and today the President of the European Parliament stated youth unemployment was Europe's biggest issue. Despite this, the Government's promises have not materialised and the jobs plan became an initiative. Where are we going from here and what is the real plan to reduce historically high rates of emigration and deal with the issue of youth unemployment?