Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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16. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will co-ordinate a programme of action between the Departments of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Education and Skills to address the escalating youth unemployment issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35761/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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My Department works closely with the Departments of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Education and Skills, Social Protection and others as part of a cross departmental effort to tackle youth unemployment.

My Department administers a range of funding schemes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country by the voluntary youth sector. In 2014 €49.78m has been allocated to my Department for these schemes. The funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to some 380,000 young people, and involve approximately 1,400 youth work staff in 470 projects and 40,000 volunteers in local communities around the country. As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, my aim is to highlight the potential youth work can play, as part of the response to the youth employment challenge, through collaboration with other interests. Youth work and non-formal learning, in its many programmes and activities, offers young people opportunities to acquire new competences and skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, motivation, creativity and leadership. These are core and transferable life skills - the 21st century skills - that are so important to training and career readiness.

The work of the voluntary youth work sector, in the provision of youth services, has a significant contribution to make to the Government’s jobs agenda for young people including the Action Plan for Jobs, led by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Pathways to Work and the implementation of the Youth Guarantee for unemployed young people, which is led by the Department of Social Protection. Many youth organisations are working closely with the relevant Government departments and delivering youth employment and youth employability measures to address the challenges of youth unemployment.

The youth work sector has a significant contribution to make to a number of actions for progression by my Department in the Action Plan for Jobs 2014. These include promoting youth entrepreneurship activity at local level, increasing participation in volunteering opportunities in youth services and promoting mobility and learning opportunities for young people under the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme. In this context my Department, in consultation with the youth sector, has developed a ‘Youth Employability Initiative’ which builds on existing youth work initiatives that increase the employability of marginalised young people in the 15 to 24 age group. The initiatives will target the hardest to reach young people who are at risk of becoming NEET (i.e. not in employment, education or training) for intensive support to prevent unemployment. My Department is liaising with the relevant Government departments in the development of the initiative for 2015.

The National Youth Strategy 2014 - 2020 which being developed by my Department in collaboration with other Government departments and youth interests will have a particular focus on ensuring greater coordination in policy and provision across government for young people aged 10 – 24 years. The strategy will aim to be responsive to current and emerging issues which impact on young people’s lives, such as the unemployment challenge at this time.

It is anticipated that the new National Youth Strategy will be completed by the end of 2014.