Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank her for outlining the work done by the programmes with which she is involved. It is always good to see a Minister outline his or her brief, not read a script, which tells us that she knows exactly what she is talking about.

There are a number of issues. We have talked about how the unemployment rate has stabilised but not about the people who have emigrated. If they were taken into account then the unemployment rate would be at a very worrying level. Obviously the youth unemployment rate is an issue of great concern. The Minister outlined many issues of concern. For example, one in five children live in a household with nobody in employment. That has been the case for some time but was hidden by the Celtic tiger.

I note the Minister talked about having 20,000 people who have been employed over the recent past and the aim is increase that to 75,000 people. It was not the Minister's party but other parties in government, who shall remain nameless, that promised 40,000 jobs per year. One candidate asked whether we would have to wait ten years to reach a satisfactory employment rate and a 40,000 jobs target has proved impossible to meet in terms of employment generation. I would like to get a view on all of those young people who have left the country. Emigration has always been a safety valve for Ireland and their leaving is a great loss.

I wish to raise a side issue that perhaps the Minister will raise with her colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes. The people who leave because we cannot create employment for them here have been told that they will never be given a vote in our Parliament, reformed or not, because they have social media. It is insulting for a member of the Government to tell members of our community who have emigrated, not only that we will not provide employment but we will not even give them, as citizens of the Republic who live outside of the State, the hope that they will have a vote, unlike 115 countries around the world. There are 33 members of the Council of Europe and only four countries do not give their citizens who live outside of the jurisdiction the vote. Ireland is in august company with Malta, Cyprus and Greece. Now we have asked our citizens "Why would you want a vote, sure you have social media?"

What are we doing to bring people home? A number of initiatives and schemes have been launched such as internship programmes. Amazingly, and I have raised the matter with the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, we cannot get them into the Houses of the Oireachtas. I am sure the Minister has struggled---