Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. What this Government has failed to acknowledge, much less address, is that forced emigration is back for the young people of Ireland. Many have already left, while many more are considering emigrating or planning to do so. In the past year, 10,600 people emigrated to Australia alone, an increase from 4,700 in the previous year. They are leaving, not because of some collective sense of adventure, but because they simply do not see a future for themselves here in Ireland. Frustrated and angry, they feel robbed of a life here. Who could disagree with them - with house prices and rents continuing to soar, the cost-of-living crisis raging on, and a Government that will not even acknowledge the difficulties facing young people, much less take steps to address them.

Budgets are about choices. Sinn Féin's alternative budget contains the plans, policies, and ambition to deliver for young people. That means supporting not only young people but the communities that nurture and shape them, ensuring young people have vibrant places to live, explore, and develop. Young people should have more spaces dedicated to them and their specific needs.Sinn Féin would put €1 billion of the Apple tax money into a community fund to invest in working class communities that have been left behind. We would have provided additional funding for programmes such as the Social Inclusion and Community Activation and LEADER programmes, investment in youth services, including universal youth hubs, community centre investment, including capital funding for youth services, and €4.5 million for family resource centres.

We would also have invested over €100 million in a sports and cultural activity card for young people under the age of 18 which could be redeemed for sports, clubs and leisure and cultural activities and would have invested more money in the large scale investment fund and Irish soccer infrastructure, which, as we all know, is crumbling.

Sinn Féin recognises that young people are the future. They are the future gardaí, healthcare workers and tradespeople on which our hopes, plans and ambitions are built. Current Government underfunding and under-investment in further education means many young people are not getting the opportunity to achieve their full potential. We would invest in our young people and their potential. We would fund 1,000 new Garda recruits and 200 medicine places, as well as extending free fees initiative to graduate entry medical students. We would also abolish craft apprenticeship fees and extend State support for allowances for craft apprentices by increasing rates by 50%, as well as introducing an allowance for instructors of apprentices to increase training capacity in the system.

Going to college is supposed to be a time of excitement, broadening horizons and learning new things. For too many young people, it is one of hardship, anxiety and stress. Rising student accommodation costs mean many young people are left living miles from their university and face long, tiring and expensive commutes. We want to ensure students can live in reasonably priced, university-owned, on-campus accommodation. We would deliver this by investing €300 million in additional capital expenditure for student accommodation over a three-year period. This would advance the shovel-ready projects universities have in place, but have yet to proceed due to financial viability issues. It would allow us to commence the building of 3,000 much needed student beds over a three-year period. It is a disgrace that, in one of the richest countries in the world, many young people are forced to put their further education plans, plans they have worked hard to realise, on hold, sometimes indefinitely.

Young people do not need sound bites and patronising social media posts. They need a Government that listens and delivers for them. We would not only phase out the student contribution charge, with a first cut of €1,500 this year, we would also increase SUSI maintenance by 15% and extend SUSI to postgraduate fees for qualifying students.

Senator Sherlock mentioned making work pay. The fact is that, whether working to pay for college or starting out in a career, many young people are pinned to their collar, working low income jobs and struggling to get by. A fair day’s work should equal a fair day’s pay, and the minimum wage should have been increased by €1.10 an hour. Young people also need a fair tax package that works for them. We would have abolished the USC, a tax that disproportionately impacts lower income workers. We would instead place the tax burden where it rightly belongs, by introducing a solidarity tax of 3% on individual income over €140,000.

The future belongs to the young people of Ireland. We are the guardians for the next generation. That is why we are committed to implementing environmental policies that not only ensure the future of our planet, but also place the burden where it ought to be. A Sinn Féin Government would move away from punitive approaches such as the carbon tax and implement State-driven, supply-side investment in green infrastructure. We would address under-investment in renewable energy and grid infrastructure, with a €750 million renewable energy investment fund, starting with a €50 million investment in 2025, and implement a biodiversity and nature restoration fund, starting with a €50 million investment in year one.

It is abundantly clear that there is a better and a fairer way, a way that recognises we are only the guardians for future generations. There is a way that ensures the next generation has the same opportunities that we had, a community that nurtures them, an education system that equips them for a job that can provide them with a good standard of living and an opportunity to own a home of their own in a country that values its young people and its environment. Sinn Féin has the plans, ambition and commitment to deliver on this future.