John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 288: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if, in considering measures to tackle youth unemployment, she has examined the possibility of providing a youth contract or youth guarantee so that those under 25 years of age and out of work or education would be guaranteed a work placement, training or an internship within a set period; if she will outline the funding or measures that would be necessary to provide this commitment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6882/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department of Social Protection, through the wide range of schemes and interventions it provides, impacts on the lives of almost every person in the State at some stage. A number of these measures already support those under 25 years of age.

In this regard the back to education allowance (BTEA) scheme is a second chance education opportunities scheme designed to remove the barriers to participation in second and third level education by enabling eligible people on social welfare to continue to receive a payment while pursuing an approved full-time education course that leads to a higher qualification than that already held.

A BTEA applicant must be in receipt of a relevant social welfare payment and be at least 21 years of age (24 years postgraduate courses) prior to commencing an approved course of study. However, lone parents and persons in receipt of jobseekers payments can qualify at 18 years of age provided they are out of formal education for at least 2 years.

Changes made to rate of payment of jobseekers allowance to young people since 2009 were undertaken in order to incentivise under 25 year old jobseekers to avail of education and training opportunities and try to avoid them becoming welfare-dependent from a young age. The full adult rate of the relevant payment will be paid to under 25 year olds who participate in full time approved education or training programmes. This measure provides this group with a strong financial incentive to engage in education or training or to take up employment.

In addition JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme, assists individuals to bridge the gap between unemployment and the world of work. It provides those seeking employment with an opportunity to undertake a 6 or 9 month internship in a host organisation. Participation on the scheme assists in breaking that cycle whereby unemployed people are unable to get a job without experience. On completing their internship, participants will have improved their prospects of securing employment. The scheme is scheduled to run for two years with a maximum of 5,000 places at any time. Interns receive an allowance of €50 per week on top of their social welfare entitlement payable for the period of the internship.

It is intended that both the BTEA and the internship programme will be reviewed to assess their effectiveness and the outcome of those reviews will be used to determine whether policy changes are required to meet labour market activation objectives.