Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I will break from tradition and will not launch any attacks on the Minister or play politics so people might be shocked.

I am 25 years of age and would have considered myself relatively in touch with young people and would have thought I knew the concerns and the issues of the day. In recent months I have met many youth groups, youth organisations, people who work with young people and young people themselves and, my God, I live in a bubble. I can just image what it is like for Oireachtas Members who may not be as young as me.

In the first page of his contribution the Minister said there is a growing sense of optimism in the country. From what I have heard in recent months, there is not a sense of optimism, especially among young people. I am not having a dig at the Minister but I will quote a number of comments I have heard in recent months. Yesterday, I heard from a 24 year old man in Cork. He is unemployed and cannot find any work. He has been on numerous training courses and is leaving for Australia in August. He said: "We were told in school that you can do whatever you want. You cannot do this any more. The dream is gone." That is a serious drainer of optimism from the country. A Tús worker told me that the first thing people say when being interviewed for schemes is that they are emigrating. A group of young people, when asked if they would emigrate, said they would. I asked why they were still here. They said they cannot get the money to leave but would leave if they could. I met another gentleman and the gist of what he said was that he wanted to get out of this "effed up" country. He said: "I would do any job but I cannot get anything. Some kind of job would be brilliant." The same young man who said that the dream is gone said: "At least you can afford to live when you emigrate, you make money and you can live in those countries. You work hard but you get the benefits. When I go there I will still be sending money home. I just want to actually have a life."

The reason I mention this is that for many young people I have met, be they in Cork, Donegal, Belfast, Ballinamore and Dublin, they do not have any hope for the future. They want to get out. They do not feel there is anything here for them. That is problematic going forward. I am aware there has been much talk about recovery. As people, we are ready for recovery but we have to question what form it will take. We should not leave any person or family behind and there should not be any generational scars. In his contribution the Minister mentioned that 61,000 jobs were created in the past year, that there was a fall in unemployment and that full employment is a stated objective by 2020. What I am hearing from all the young people is that there are no placements and no jobs. I have been to Gortahork where young people are sitting around and saying there is nothing here for them. The courses available are not relevant. I know this is not necessarily the responsibility of the Minister's Department but there is not that hope and they do not feel there are jobs. I ask the Minister to address young people, not in a papal way - "Young people of Ireland, I love you" - or whatever, but to tell them when the green shoots of recovery are going to trickle down to these young people and what hope can he offer them. That is the reason I am here, because young people are frustrated about when the recovery will come to them. Perhaps the Minister would address that issue.