Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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300. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans in regard to the youth guarantee (details supplied) in Ballymun. [3062/17]

Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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307. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason the youth guarantee was not continued in Ballymun and rolled out as promised when the pilot scheme started. [3207/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 300 and 307 together.

Under the European Commission’s call for proposals for preparatory actions under the 'Youth Guarantee', the Department of Social Protection obtained EU funding to pilot a Youth Guarantee Scheme in Ballymun. This was a once-off call for pilot projects. The purpose of the Ballymun Youth Guarantee (BYG) pilot project was to test key elements to inform the national roll-out of the Youth Guarantee. The project officially finished on the 31st December 2014.

Lessons learned from the Ballymun Youth Guarantee pilot project have informed the national roll-out of the Youth Guarantee in a number of ways.

First, the BYG project showed the importance of close engagement by case officers with young jobseekers. This has informed reforms to Intreo processes such that there is now monthly engagement with all young people by case officers to discuss and achieve personal progression plans.

Second, the BYG project identified a need for a more intensive approach with disadvantaged youth distant from the labour market, to build employability and work readiness skills. This approach has been taken forward in the First Steps programme.

A third learning was the importance of career guidance. Pathways to Work 2016-2020 commits to designing, developing and implementing an accredited professional development programme for Intreo case officers. This will benefit all jobseekers, including young jobseekers, and will contribute to improving the quality of Intreo services.

Finally, the BYG project was progressed through partnership working at national and local levels. The scale, scope and nature of this partnership working was facilitated by extensive, pre-existing community infrastructures and relationships in Ballymun. It is not feasible or necessarily desirable to replicate these structures in every community in which Intreo offices operate. Nevertheless, Pathways to Work 2016-2020 contains a number of actions to strengthen local arrangements and protocols for partnership working, including for example through Regional Skills Fora, which will include a specific focus on youth.

Already, youth unemployment has fallen from a peak of 31% in 2012 to 14.5% at the end of 2016. From a situation where youth unemployment here was well above the EU average of 23% in 2012, it is now significantly below the current EU average figure of 18.8%.

I am satisfied current policies, including measures drawn from the learning of the BYG project, will support further reductions in youth unemployment in the period ahead.