Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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344. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he has considered if the equal rights of young persons are being infringed by there being three different rates of jobseeker's allowance dependent on age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14826/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Reduced rates for younger jobseeker’s allowance recipients were first introduced in 2009 and were further extended in subsequent budgets. Reduced rates of jobseeker’s allowance apply to jobseekers under 26 years of age.

This is a targeted measure aimed at protecting young people from welfare dependency. To guard against the development of welfare dependency I believe that it is necessary to provide young jobseekers with a strong financial incentive to engage in education or training or to take up employment. If a young jobseeker in receipt of the reduced jobseeker’s allowance rate participates on an education or training programme they will receive a higher weekly payment of €160.

Youth unemployment rose rapidly in the recession to over 30% in 2012. According to the Quarterly National Household Survey for Quarter 1 2016, youth unemployment continues to fall in line with the overall recovery and now stands at 16.9%.

The Youth Guarantee sets a medium-term objective of ensuring that all 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, through earlier and enhanced engagement processes.

Reserved places on a number of programmes and youth-oriented variants of existing schemes have also been rolled out. Overall, young people took up just over 19,000 Youth Guarantee-related programme places in 2015. These numbers exclude an estimated 24,000 places provided for young people through PLC courses and apprenticeships.

Other EU and OECD countries adopt a similar targeted approach in terms of young jobseekers receiving a reduced social welfare payment. Unless every effort is made to encourage and support our young people to engage in education and training there is a risk that they may drift into welfare dependency. This needs to be avoided at all costs as welfare dependency will have severe long term consequences for those affected and for the economy as a whole.