Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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324. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will develop a national jobs strategy for young persons in an effort to better co-ordinate the various measures and supports in place and those which need to be put in place to help tackle youth unemployment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1458/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I am very much aware that young people have been the group most seriously affected over the past number of years by Ireland's economic collapse. As we see the early stages of an economic recovery, we also see that youth employment figures have started to increase in the past year. It is important that we continue on our course to turn our economy around so that we create more job opportunities not only for our young people but for all.

In relation to Youth Employment, the Government continues to tackle the issue of youth opportunities in the labour market through the combined efforts of the Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work strategies. The Action Plan for Jobs is a national jobs strategy across the whole of Government, which contains commitments specific to all Departments and many of their Agencies. This contains commitments to bring about a transition in the jobs and enterprise sectors to develop new job opportunities in sustainable sectors in order to create 100,000 jobs by 2016. It includes actions specific to our young people. It is encouraging to see signs of progress across a range of sectors and this is vital in order to continue to deliver job opportunities for young people.

Through Pathways to Work, the Government has brought in a range of new initiatives to support young people looking for employment, such as JobsPlus, JobBridge, Springboard, Momentum and the ICT action plan, which are delivered by the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Education and Skills. The Government is taking steps to increase the number of places and make other enhancements to those schemes where possible.

My Department, together with Enterprise Ireland, is also examining options for CEB-led initiatives aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship, including a mix of financial supports for business start-ups, feasibility studies and mentoring.

The Minister for Social Protection has the lead responsibility for the implementation of the EU Council Recommendation on a Youth Guarantee. The Department of Social Protection has set up an interdepartmental group with officials and programme managers from my Department and the Department of Education and Skills, and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, to review the current range of youth employment policies in Ireland to assess what measures will need to be taken to commence the implementation of the Youth Guarantee.

I understand that Ireland’s implementation plan for the Youth Guarantee was transmitted to the European Commission in December 2013 by the Department of Social Protection and that details will be made available shortly regarding the manner in which Ireland will pursue a phased implementation of the Recommendation in 2014 and subsequent years.