Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is somewhat disappointing that Sinn Féin is quite so negative. I have long experience of working at third level. I am particularly conscious that one of the problems caused by the recession is that many young people hit a brick wall when they look for employment opportunities after completing secondary education, FETAC training, community employment schemes or third level education. I am aware of people with fantastic primary and master's degrees - even a number of people with PhDs - who have encountered such difficulties. The Senator is profoundly wrong. I invite him to examine the figures and think again. Between 130,000 and 140,000 people leave the live register every year to take up employment in Ireland.

We are not talking about people who might leave the country or drop out of the labour force. They actually leave the live register to take up employment. The critical point in taking up employment is that one's best opportunity, particularly if one has just completed a course or is moving to a new career, is in being able to say to an employer not only that one wants to work for that person and has good educational or other qualifications but also that one has worked and has relevant experience. One of the problems is that in the recession we could build up a cohort of people who would have many educational qualifications, some at a very high level, but who would never have had an opportunity to work. From a business point of view, the opportunity for somebody looking for a first or second job, if he or she is moving field such as someone who worked in construction and is moving to work perhaps in the information technology sector, is greatly diminished in the absence of a bridge or pathway from one sector to another or to a job in the first place. I have a great deal of experience in business and of working with businesses-----