Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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751. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the funds drawn down or proposed to be drawn down from the European Union social funds in 2014 to support the national implementation of the Youth Guarantee. [11264/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The European Union's Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) provides co-funding to projects in the Member States that are designed to implement the EU Youth Guarantee and other projects designed to get unemployed young people back to work, education or training. The YEI is being delivered in Ireland through the European Social Fund (ESF) Programme for Education, Inclusion and Learning 2014-2020 which was only approved by the European Commission at the end of February. Ireland has been allocated €32 million in Youth Employment Initiative funding in each of the years 2014 and 2015 that has to be matched by equal amounts from our ESF allocation and from the Exchequer. The activities co-funded under the YEI in Ireland include such measures as Youthreach, Momentum, Social Inclusion and Activation Programme and JobBridge and they are under way.

However, it is not possible to draw down the EU funds in respect of the ESF or the YEI until all of the structures and systems to certify expenditure under the EU Regulations are in place and verified by a designated body to a level acceptable to the European Commission. These structures are being put in place at this time. In the meantime, the Exchequer is providing up-front funding for these measures in full.

I expect that Ireland's YEI allocation will be fully drawn down in due course.