Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the percentage of the European Pledge Youth G'Tee she has secured for Ireland; the programmes she has put in place to tackle youth unemployment; the targets that have been set in terms of job creation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14771/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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As part of the European Council agreement on the 2014 – 2020 Multi Annual Financial Framework of 7-8 February, it was decided to provide EUR 6 billion for a new Youth Employment Initiative for regions with youth unemployment above 25%. This funding will consist of EUR 3 billion from the European Social Fund and an additional EUR 3 billion from a new Youth Employment budget line.

The European Commission has now published its legislative proposal for this initiative, which in the first instance will have to be considered by Council and then, in turn, negotiated with the European Parliament. The eligibility criteria for funding support are based on 2012 regional youth unemployment figures, which are not yet available on a pan-European basis, but are expected to be published by Eurostat next month. The financial allocation will be determined based on the number of young unemployed persons between the ages of 15-24 in the NUTS 2 level regions that have youth unemployment rates of more than 25% in 2012. The allocation corresponding to each eligible region is then calculated on the basis of the ratio between the number of young unemployed persons in the eligible region and the total number of young unemployed persons in all eligible regions.

In the absence of the published regional level youth unemployment data and subject to the final agreement on the legislative texts at EU level, we cannot be more definitive at this stage. However, it is expected both Irish regions, the Border, Midland and West and the Southern and Eastern Regions will qualify for funding. While I do not wish to pre-empt a final decision on funding, I can assure the Deputy that we will be seeking to maximise the possible benefits to Ireland.

The Government is already implementing a number of programmes to assist young unemployed persons and keep young jobseekers close to the labour market. There are five main approaches being taken to tackle youth unemployment: education, training, job search assistance/guidance, work experience, and encouraging job creation. These actions range across a number of Departments and Agencies and include:-

- The Youthreach programme providing 6,000 integrated education, training and work experience for early school leavers without any qualifications or vocational training who are between 15 and 20 years of age;

- The Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme scheme, which provides a range of courses to meet the education and training needs of unemployed people over 21 years of age, particularly focusing upon early school leavers;

- The Back to Education Allowance scheme run by the Department of Social Protection provides income maintenance for unemployed people returning to further or higher education. Over 6,500 young people participated on

this scheme in the last academic year;

- Approximately 12,000 persons aged under 25 completed a training course with FÁS in 2012. This excludes apprenticeships and evening courses;

- This year MOMENTUM, a scheme for education and training interventions, which is part of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs initiative, is currently being rolled out by the Department of Education. MOMENTUM will

support the provision of free education and training projects to allow 6,500 long term jobseekers to gain skills and to access work opportunities in identified growing sectors;

- The JobBridge National Internship Scheme is focused on providing work experience to young people with the total number of placements of young people on JobBridge during 2012 at 2,700;

- Long-term unemployed youth will also benefit from the JobsPlus initiative which is designed to encourage employers to recruit long-term unemployed people. Under this scheme the State will pay circa €1 of every €4 it costs the

employer to recruit a person from the Live Register;

- In the December Budget, funding was secured for an additional 10,000 places this year across a range of programmes -- including JobBridge, TÚS and Community Employment. About a quarter of these places are expected to

be taken up by unemployed young people.

In terms of job creation, the Government’s primary strategy to tackle youth unemployment is to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth. Past experience suggests that youth unemployment, which tends to rise relatively rapidly in a downturn, can be expected to fall relatively rapidly during the recovery.

With regard to targets for job creation, the original Action Plan for Jobs sets out a target for 100,000 net new jobs to be created by 2016, many of which will be filled by young people. In addition, the Action Plan for Jobs 2013 includes the Pathways to Work initiative’s targets for increasing the number of people who are long-term unemployed moving into employment and reducing the average length of time spent on the Live Register.

Specifically, these targets are that:

(i) at least 75,000 of those currently long-term unemployed will move into employment by 2015.

(ii) Reducing the average time spent on the Live Register from 21 months today to less than 12 months by the end of 2015.

As two out of five young unemployed are long-term unemployed, these targets are pertinent to young people.

A new recruitment incentive – JobsPlus – has also been developed by my Department and was approved by the Government as part of the Action Plan for Jobs. This incentive will cover the cost of c. €1 in every €4 of an employer’s wage costs and will be launched for availability by July 2013. Young people are likely to be major beneficiaries of this initiative as employers tend to hire young people when there is a recovery in employment.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection in view of the EU Council recommendation to introduce a youth employment initiative, if she will confirm the Minister that will take the lead in rolling out the initiatives for tackling youth unemployment, including the youth guarantee. [15281/13]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection following on from the June 2011 council conclusions, the cooperation that has been undertaken with the social partners, employment services and other labour market stakeholders and education and training providers to target youth unemployment and youth not in education, employment or training. [15276/13]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection as part of the Europe 2020 strategy, the legal and administrative obstacles that were identified to ensure that all young persons are in a job or further education within four months of leaving school. [15278/13]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the way the Government is identifying the appropriate timescale for implementation of youth guarantee in Ireland's current employment and budgetary circumstances; the criteria being used; the way a youth guarantee will be phased in; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15280/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 308 and 341 to 343, inclusive, together.

Work on the issue of youth unemployment arising from both the June 2011 Council conclusions and the Europe 2020 Strategy is now reflected both in the work of the Commission in presenting the guarantee recommendation in December 2012, and the work of the Irish Presidency in negotiating the recommendation through the Council.

Under my chairmanship, the Council of Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Ministers (EPSCO) last month agreed a recommendation on an EU-wide Youth Guarantee. The EPSCO Recommendation is that each Member State should ensure that young people receive a quality offer of employment or of continued education, an apprenticeship or traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed. The Recommendation will now move to be considered for formal adoption by the Council at a later stage in Ireland's Presidency - most likely in May.

The Recommendation encourages Member States to implement its provisions as soon as possible once it is formally adopted. It is also recognised that implementation will need to be more gradual in countries with higher levels of youth unemployment and particularly severe budgetary problems. The Department intends to work with youth and other agencies to maximise the impact of a youth guarantee in Ireland. For example, numerous organisations (e.g. IBEC, Ballymun Job Centre, National Youth Council of Ireland) have agreed to participate in the proposed pilot Youth Guarantee project, for which we have sought funding from the European Commission.

In anticipation of the formal adoption of the Recommendation, the government will review the current range of youth employment and training policies in Ireland to assess what measures will need to be taken to commence the gradual implementation of the guarantee. This will include the identification of what would be the appropriate timescale for implementation in Ireland's current employment and budgetary circumstances. We do not anticipate any significant administrative difficulties, given that this Department, together with the Department for Education & Skills, the Department for Children & Youth Affairs and the Department for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation already administer significant schemes to generate employment, education and training opportunities and to ensure that young people have access to such opportunities. The Youth Guarantee will support rather than impede or replace this work. I, as Minister for Social Protection will work with my colleagues in Cabinet with responsibility for these portfolios to further the implementation of the Youth Guarantee.

The scale and nature of the measures required will depend on the trend in youth unemployment, and in particular the number of young people likely to experience periods of unemployment of more than four months under current policies. In this context, it is a welcome development that the official labour market figures published by the CSO recently indicated that the number of young unemployed at the end of 2012, at 59,000, a reduction of almost 9,000 on the same time a year earlier. It is to be hoped that this is the beginning of a sustained downward movement in youth unemployment as the economy recovers. Even so, the implementation of a guarantee will, almost certainly require an expansion in the range of opportunities currently on offer to young people in the form of further education, training, internships, subsidised private-sector recruitment, and supports for self-employment.

In this regard the State already provides a significant number of places which are available to young people and the Department of Social Protection took steps in Budget 2013 to increase funding and places for schemes such as JobBridge, Community Employment, TÚS and a new state employment scheme in the local Government sector. In total an additional 10,000 places will be provided. The Department of Education also made provision for the new MOMENTUM programme which is providing 6,500 new training places many of which will be taken up by young people. A new recruitment incentive – JobsPlus – has also been developed by my Department and was approved by the Government as part of the Action Plan for Jobs. This incentive will cover the cost of c. €1 in every €4 of an employer’s wage costs and will be launched for availability by July 2013.

The size and the timescale for any additional provision, over and above that outlined above that is both desirable and feasible will be established over the coming months.