Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his proposals for dealing with youth unemployment; and if he will explain the rate of progress that has been made to date. [41290/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The rise in youth unemployment as a result of the global economic downturn is a challenge for most EU countries. Comparative figures from Eurostat show that Ireland had a youth unemployment rate of 30.5% at the end of last year. The EU average was 22.1%, with several countries having a higher youth unemployment rate than Ireland.

The Government is tackling unemployment generally through the twin strategies of the Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work. The aim of the Action Pan for Jobs is to support the creation of 100,000 net new jobs by 2016, while the objective of Pathways to Work is to ensure that as many of those jobs as possible go to those who are currently unemployed. Many young people will benefit from the opportunities provided through these initiatives.

The 2012 Action Plan for Jobs contains over 270 measures to be delivered across all 15 Government Departments and 36 State agencies. Pathways to Work includes various training, education and work experience initiatives delivered by the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Social Protection.

Under Pathways to Work, the Department of Social Protection is committed to supporting over 85,000 job placement, work experience and Back to Education beneficiaries this year, including through the JobBridge internship programme. To date, over 10,500 participants have commenced JobBridge placements, which by its nature, is very amenable to participation by young people. Preliminary statistics compiled by the Department of Social Protection indicate that in the region of 40% of interns have secured jobs following their participation on JobBridge. This number can be expected to grow as more interns finish their placements and more detailed data is gathered on outcomes from the programme.

The latest Quarterly National Household Survey, published by the CSO on 19 September, indicates that 66,500 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 years were unemployed in the second quarter of 2012. Under the National Employment Action Plan process, 35,400 people under 25 years of age were referred to the Employment Services last year. Of those referred, 62% of clients had signed off the Live Register by the end of the year. For the first eight months of this year, there were 23,700 referrals affecting 18,300 young jobseekers. Over 18,000 persons aged 25 and under also completed a training course with FÁS in 2011.

The Department of Education and Skills will provide over 450,000 education and training places this year under Pathways to Work, across the range of provision in the higher education, further education and training sectors. These places will include provision for school leavers. The new €20 million Labour Market Education and Training Fund operated by the Department of Education & Skills will also include specific provision for those under 25 years of age.