Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to pick up on what Senator Eamonn Coghlan said about voting. I was in the top five when our voting records were rated, but that does not put me above any other Senator. I am mindful of the valuable contributions made by Senators Crown, van Turnhout, Gilroy and Henry at meetings of the Joint Committee on Health and Children. It is totally inaccurate and unfair to judge people's performance in this House solely on the basis of their voting records. All Senators have made a valuable contribution to this House over the last two and half years. I know they will continue to do so over the next two and a half years.

I appreciate that we debated youth unemployment not so long ago, but we need to monitor it and perhaps bring it back on the agenda before Christmas. Last week, I had the privilege of meeting a 24 year old who was choosing between jobs in three countries. He does not have a third level qualification, but he happens to have the right qualification in the area he works in. His big dilemma was which country to take a job in. This case raises the whole question of whether our education system is focused on preparing people for where the jobs are. I understand that €150 million is available from the EU to alleviate youth unemployment. I suggest we should have a debate before Christmas to ascertain the extent to which progress has been made in accessing that funding, making sure we can get the best out of it for the young people of this country and ensuring youth unemployment is reduced and if possible eliminated.