Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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134. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the high-level conference on youth unemployment hosted by French President François Hollande in Paris on 12 November last; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50413/13]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I travelled to Paris, on Tuesday 12 November, for the Second Conference on Youth Employment in Europe at the invitation of President Hollande. I was accompanied by the Minister for Social Protection, Ms Joan Burton TD. The event was organised by President Hollande to maintain political momentum behind addressing the youth employment challenge, particularly in terms of identifying concrete actions to implement the Youth Guarantee. It followed a similar event organised by Chancellor Merkel that took place in Berlin in July.

This is one of the most pressing issues we face in Europe today. That is why the June European Council agreed that all efforts must be mobilised around the shared objective of getting young people into education, training or employment. Over 20 Heads of State or Government gathered in Paris to take this agenda forward with the support of relevant Ministers. We know that young people who become long term unemployed are at greatest risk of becoming permanently disengaged from the workforce. Unless we address this problem, Europe will suffer the economic and social consequences long after this downturn ends. My own contribution focused on digital skills and the potential of the digital economy generally, including in light of the recent Dublin Web Summit.

The October European Council highlighted that Europe could have as many as 900,000 unfilled ICT vacancies by 2015. Improving the pipeline of digital skills therefore makes sense for both youth and the EU economy. It will kick start young careers, it will spawn new fast growing tech companies, and it will improve the competitiveness of our existing SMEs.

Our discussions in Paris isolated three clear priorities which were highlighted by President Hollande in his concluding remarks. First is education and training. We must step up our efforts to prepare our young people for the jobs of the future and to equip them with the right qualifications. Second is labour market integration. This means a particular focus on those of our youth who are at greatest risk of marginalisation and long term unemployment.  Third is supporting the creation of new firms and youth entrepreneurships. We do this by making it as easy as possible to set up a business and to finance the most promising new ideas. We must also mobilise all available instruments to implement these priorities, including through the €6 billion Youth Employment Initiative agreed as part of the new Multiannual Financial Framework, frontloaded in 2014-15.

I confirmed in Paris that the first phase of our own Youth Guarantee implementation plan will be ready before the end of this year, as provided for in Pathways to Work 2013. This work is being led by the Minister for Social Protection and supported by the OECD.