Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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63. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current number of young persons not in education, training or employment; the current percentage of youth unemployment; the way this number compares to the EU area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49368/14]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Based on micro data from the Quarterly National Household survey, the Department of Social protection estimates that the number of young people aged less than 25 years not in employment, education or training in the second quarter of 2014 was 76,500. This represented 14.6% of the estimated population in this age group. There has been a significant fall in this percentage since the second quarter of 2011, when it stood at 18.3%.

According to Eurostat, the seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate for Ireland in October was 22.2%. This compares with a rate of 23.5% in the Eurozone and 21.6% in the EU area overall. Since October 2011, youth unemployment in Ireland has fallen from 30.0% to 22.2%, while the rate for the Eurozone rose from 21.4% to 23.5%, and the overall EU rate fell marginally, from 22.1% to 21.6%.

While the progress made in reducing youth unemployment over the last few years is welcome, continuing policy efforts are required in order to bring about further reductions.

In this regard, the Government’s strategy to tackle all forms of unemployment is being achieved through the actions set out in the Action Plan for Jobs and in Pathways to Work.

In relation to young people, these overall policies are further supported by the measures set out in the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan published earlier this year. The Plan provides for enhancing the Intreo engagement with newly unemployed young people, and for building on and adding to the current range of education, training and employment interventions for young people.