Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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113. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the recommendation by the National Youth Council that her Department develop a strand within the youth guarantee scheme to support young persons with limited qualifications who are long-term unemployed; and her plans to act on this recommendation. [33250/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I am aware of the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) report concerning the role of youth work in supporting long-term unemployed young people with limited qualifications and I am grateful to them for their input. The Youth Guarantee is a major priority of the Department. Securing EU Council agreement for an EU Recommendation on a Youth Guarantee was one of the priorities of the Irish Presidency and this was secured during my chairing of the Council of European Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO). While Member States are encouraged to implement the Recommendation as soon as possible, it is recognised that implementation will need to be more gradual in countries with higher levels of youth unemployment and particularly severe budgetary problems.

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 and training, internships, subsidised private-sector recruitment, and supports for self-employment. The intention is that an implementation plan for the national rollout of the Youth Guarantee will be finalised by the end of the year, and this will set out a timescale for implementation. By this time, it is hoped that there will also be greater visibility with regard to accessing funding from the EU Youth Employment Initiative.

Among the issues that can be addressed in the review and plan will be the role of the various actors involved in delivering employment, education, training and other relevant services to young people. While there is no explicit reference to the role of youth work in the Youth Guarantee recommendation, I am aware of the need to leverage all resources available. Indeed, the proposed pilot Youth Guarantee Scheme in Ballymun will involve amongst others, the NYCI. The Ballymun Pilot, which I am pleased to say has been selected by the European Commission as one of the pilot programmes to receive EU funding, is expected to start by the year-end. A significant proportion of the target group for the pilot will be young people who have low levels of educational attainment. It is hoped that there will be early lessons from the Ballymun Project that will guide the nationwide rollout of the YGS, including the possible contribution of the youth sector in supporting long-term unemployed young people with limited qualification.