Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is not much more to say. I have given an outline of where the places are to be. I think there might be a "go to" position to disbelieve that anything in Ireland ever gets better. That is selling ourselves and the country short. It is important that we send out a very positive message, particularly where young people are involved. I have a very strong commitment to young people. I have been delighted to be involved in creating opportunities for people. Of course I would prefer if there were pages of advertisements in the newspapers and people could go directly to employment. However, if young people, regardless of how talented and educated they are, emerge into the workplace after their leaving certificate, a primary degree, masters degree or even a PhD and if during the period of their education and training they have had no opportunity to work, they are at an enormous disadvantage in a very tight jobs market, even a market that is improving.

Employers tend to prefer people who have work experience and very much tend to prefer people who are less than six months on the live register. Once somebody goes past six months on the live register, even though one's unemployment is not one's fault because one might have lost one's job or never had one in the first place, employers simply do not respond in the same positive way. In other countries the education systems are built on a dual model with people not just going into third level but also into training, apprenticeships and traineeships. That is a core element in Austria, a small country like ours but which has very low rates of unemployment, and the employers are full partners in it.

Aside from the cut and thrust of debate on a Bill, I suggest to the Senators that each of them be an ambassador to local employers in the different parts of the country. Tell them about JobsPlus, JobBridge and the skills conversion courses. In the case of people who have trained as engineers and have a mathematics background, for example, we will, through the Department of Education and Skills, give them a postgraduate course for a year to convert them to IT. If it is appropriate we will then give them a JobBridge internship for a few months, after which they can get very valuable employment. They are being sought for employment.

In this situation we must look to the positives we can promote for our young people. The biggest barrier to a young person, and I say this with consideration, is to have a prolonged spell on the live register. It might not be the young person's fault in any way but there is no doubt that if they have a prolonged spell on the live register, it is not a good predictor of them getting a better quality job or even an entry level job, which they could take up to get employment experience and then get into independent employment and become financially independent.