Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

191. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which his Department continues to be in the position to avail of European Union support to alleviate youth unemployment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12045/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Government’s primary strategy to reduce youth unemployment is through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth and the availability of productive employment for young people. This strategy has been succeeding; by Q1 2016 the level of employment is up by 159,000 from the lowest level reached in 2012.

Youth unemployment is estimated at 15.3% (28,300 persons) in April 2016 and has fallen from a peak of 31.2% in July 2012.

The Government recognises that as the recovery takes hold, there is a need for additional measures to ensure that as many as possible of the jobs created are taken up by jobseekers and young jobseekers in particular. This is the rationale behind the Government’s Pathways to Work strategy and the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan (YGIP).

Within this framework, the Youth Guarantee sets a medium-term objective of ensuring that young people receive an offer of employment within four months of becoming unemployed. The main plank of the guarantee is assistance to young people in finding and securing sustainable jobs. In 2015 monthly engagement by case officers with all young unemployed was implemented. For those who do not find employment, additional offers are provided for. Most such offers (over 70%) are in further education or training. Others are in community-based employment programmes such as CE, Gateway and Tús, or through the JobsPlus employment subsidy for private employment.

The Government’s Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan (YGIP) details how the Youth Guarantee is to be funded through the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) and European Social Fund (ESF). The YEI is being delivered in Ireland as a dedicated priority axis within the ESF Operational Programme for Education, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) 2014-2020, for which the Irish Managing Authority is the Department of Education and Skills.

I am informed that the total amount allocated to YEI under PEIL is €204,436,257. This allocation is comprised of €68,145,419 of specific EU funding for YEI, with matching amounts from Ireland’s ESF allocation and from Exchequer funding.

It is intended to claim funding in respect of expenditure on certain programmes which make up Ireland’s response to the EU Recommendation on a Youth Guarantee, including Youthreach, the JobsPlus Incentive Scheme and Momentum. The overall range of such programmes is set out in the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan, which estimated annual expenditure on the core programmes involved of approximately €336 million, with a further expenditure on other relevant programmes (Apprenticeship and PLC courses) of €192 million.