Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

He will not have much success with the Labour Party. I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senator Darragh O'Brien. He made a very good point. I share in the congratulations to the United States of America on this great day, 4 July, the 237th anniversary of the independence of the United States of America. What would Ireland have achieved if it had 237 years of independence, not just 90? I commend Senator Kathryn Reilly on bringing forward her report today, Guarantee our Future: A Report on the Need for a Youth Guarantee from the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. It is a very worthwhile report and I recommend our colleagues get it. It is proof positive that the Seanad has done the State some service, having a young Senator here who can use her talents to bring forward a report of this quality and have it debated. This should be recognised.

I have put the following point before, and I again propose the establishment of an organisation similar to the US Peace Corps, which would engage up to 50,000 young people, qualified and unqualified, such as plasterers, electricians, labourers, block layers, nurses, teachers and so forth, to use their skills for a limited period in Third World countries. It would be very similar to the Niall Mellon Township Trust which does enormous work in shanty towns in South Africa. It would be under the engineering corps of the Irish Army for security and support. This would be a pilot scheme for Europe. Instead of just sending out Third World aid money and not being sure who is spending it, where and how, it would be spent employing young people manufacturing houses in Ireland to be built in shanty towns. This would create enormous opportunities. We must be more innovative. Let us do something radical, outside the box and think about this. We have the skills knowledge and expertise in this House to tease this idea out in a debate this autumn and I ask the Leader to consider this in detail.