Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her response. This issue was raised with me in conversation with a representative of a youth organisation. Another issue that was raised with me - previous speakers also alluded to it - relates to numbers. Will the Minister clarify how many of the places are new and how many are being rolled over? The document provides a breakdown of the funding for the youth guarantee. How much of this is added value?

For example, if we exclude the turnover that is already happening naturally, what is new for those who are already participating in these courses? Does the Minister have an idea of how much funding will be drawn down from European funding? Perhaps another document with more statistics and figures in that regard could be provided.

I would like to speak about the initial engagement with disadvantaged youth, which is an issue I consider to be important. In that context, a footnote on page 18 of the Minister's document provides that "where there are indications that there are any significant groups of young people in difficulty not covered in this way [the public employment services and through Intreo], alternative ways of reaching these young people (e.g. through Youth Work approaches) will be explored". The pilot in Ballymun is concerned with young people on the live register. The Commission has recommended that there should be an alternative defining point for young people who are not registered with the public employment services. Page 17 of the Minister's document suggests that "a system will be developed and implemented to ensure that all post primary schools give contact details for early school leavers to the relevant Education and Training Board for early follow up on alternative education and training options". How will that happen if the pilot will be confined to those on the live register? Is that happening already? Can the Minister give any practical examples of that? Will this be evaluated? What benchmarks and targets will be used in any evaluation of this? What indicators will be used? Who will be reviewing this?

I have attended many informal meetings with youth groups in recent weeks. I met a youth group - St. Michael's Youth Project - and a young mothers' group in Inchicore. Page 8 of this report notes that "among inactive NEETs [those not in employment, education or training] aged 18-24, almost 60% are carers - primarily young women aged 22-24 who describe themselves as looking after children". The members of the group I met in Inchicore told me that access to child care is a barrier for them if they try to go into education, training or employment. What can be done to try to square the circle in this regard and ensure these young women are able to take up any places that might be open to them? When I met a Tús scheme supervisor in a rural area, he told me that the days of placing people in the right placement are gone. I know that the personal plan approach represents an attempt to put young people in courses that suit their skills and career paths. He made the interesting point that if he was to place a young man in his group on a course he wanted to go on, and which would give him future employment, it would account for the entire budget of €1,000 that is available for the entire cohort of 20 participants in that group and some other people in the group could lose out as a result. How would these personalised plans deal with such constraints? What will happen if a course is found to suit a young person, but the budget is not big enough to enable him or her to avail of that opportunity? The Minister has already responded to one of my points, but maybe she will answer the other questions I have asked.