Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and compliment him on the energy and passion he is putting into his role.

Today, I will address the issue of youth unemployment. On 8 November we were addressed by a Nobel laureate, Professor Christopher Pissarides, who raised some very important points on youth unemployment.

Professor Pissarides expressed concern that one third of young workers in Ireland are unemployed. He urged us to address the situation urgently to avoid a lost generation which will prompt negative implications for economic growth and employment for many years to come. His point is that job creation is the best help that unemployed persons, young or old, can receive during a recession.

I acknowledge that the Minister is doing his best, but the problem is immense. The CSO figures show that unemployment is still at 14.8% and long-term unemployment has increased to 8.8%. A further point made by Professor Pissarides, with which I wholeheartedly agree, is the need for young people to secure a role in a line of work in which they are interested. I have just come from the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, where I made this point. A person derives pleasure from studying and having a career in a subject in which he or she is interested. I think it is a gift from God to have an opportunity to study what one is good at and to develop one's potential, which is all important. Having a job as a result of it is what it is all about. The best labour markets enable young workers to experiment in different jobs, which helps them discover their true potential and ultimately thrive in that role.

Two recently published articles in the newspapers highlighted the prevalent problems that are directly linked to youth unemployment. The first article reveals that the number of workers, including IT specialists, hired from outside the EU has risen to almost 2,300. This is a further indicator of how important it is to identify specific current and future skills that are relevant to areas of the economy if we are to assemble an appropriate skilled workforce for the future. The number of work permits granted by Google Ireland rose from 49 in 2006 to an alarming 148 last year. Facebook has the same problem. It is fine that we have diversity and people from abroad coming to work in Irish companies but we want to get jobs for our own people. The Nobel laureate stressed in his response that the EU is encouraging people to move to other countries if they cannot get a job in their own country. Our effort should be directed at providing opportunities for people in their own country. We know that many people want to go abroad. Members of my own family want to go abroad and travel. That is natural, but at the same time a true judgment of our own country is that we can provide jobs for people who want to stay here.

In response to criticism regarding PayPal's recruitment strategy, the head of PayPal, Louise Phelan, was quoted in the Irish Independent calling for people to "get past" the high number of people from overseas on her staff. I agree with her. We may be attracting the major multinational corporations to Ireland, but they are certainly looking abroad for appropriately skilled personnel to fill their vacancies.

We had a presentation from the Forfás expert group on future skills needs and our attention was drawn to an analysis carried out in 2011 of the job vacancies over the previous 12 months.

There are approximately 8,500 job vacancies in sectors such as ICT, engineering and utilities, accountancy and finance, production manufacturing and materials. There is something radically wrong in the mismatch when at the same time so many people are unemployed. I refer to an excellent presentation from the presidents of DIT, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Cork Institute of Technology and the HEA which Senator Clune and I attended. They are to be congratulated on their tremendous work in educating young people for the economy. I know the Minister is completely committed to this policy. However, any mismatch of skills should be rectified urgently by a change in policy.