I move:
That Dáil Éireann condemns the Government's failure to take positive steps towards providing employment for school leavers.
Our intention on this side of the House in tabling this motion is to highlight—By the way, do we have a House, Sir?
Private Members' Business. - Employment for School Leavers: Motion.
This is a most amazing situation.
There is nobody on the Government benches while this important motion dealing with school leavers is going on. Has it ever happened before that no member of the Government was on the front bench?
Deputy Fitzgerald and Deputy Dowling are quite right. This sort of thing should not happen. There is no member of the Government here.
This is a disgrace. It shows an absolute lack of interest on the part of the Government in school leavers and their employment prospects.
What do we do? Do we sit down or do you adjourn the House?
The absence of a Minister is not a matter for the Chair.
To whom are we speaking? Surely this is a most extraordinary situation.
Do we just proceed talking to empty Government benches?
I am precluded from accepting a motion for the Adjournment except from a member of the Government.
We cannot go on.
We could come in here any Saturday or Sunday and the House would be empty.
We admit silent Government benches are as effective as filled benches, but still!
This shows the complete and absolute lack of concern on the part of the Government.
I apologise to the Chair and to the Opposition for the absence of the Government spokesman. I gather he will be along shortly. In the meantime I will take a very careful note of what Deputy Fitzgerald says and convey that to the Minister.
While accepting the apology, and appreciating the presence of the Minister for Justice, it is disconcerting, to say the least of it, that we should have had this experience this evening of empty Government benches with a motion of such importance, as we believe this motion to be, before the House.
Our main reason for tabling this motion is to highlight what we believe to be one of the greatest evils and one of the gravest dangers facing Irish society today. I refer to the lack of opportunity for school leavers and the frustration they are facing. We are within a month or six weeks of another 50,000 odd school leavers coming on the employment market. What have we spent our time doing since this time last year when for the first time we were faced with this problem, a problem of major proportions? To further highlight the lack of concern on the part of the Government one need only quote a remark by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach on, I think, the day we came back after the Easter Recess. When pressed about the figures of school leavers on the live register his reply was that, while we have schools, we will have school leavers. One could put many constructions on that. One could write a book on it, a statement from a responsible man holding a responsible position in the Government. We will have school leavers while we have schools.
For the first time we have a huge number of school leavers with no prospective employment for them. I hope the sentiment expressed in that somewhat contemptuous fashion by the Parliamentary Secretary is not an indication of the Government's attitude on this problem. To no other problem has there been a more Micawber-like approach. The Government seem to be waiting for something to happen. They would like to sweep the problem under the carpet, and leave it there, but the problem will not just stay there. It must be faced. It must be tackled and positive encouragement must be given. If that is not done, there may be alarming consequences. It was said recently that we are a nation producing the most educated dole queues in the world. Possibly that was said in jest but when one looks deeply into it there is a good deal of truth in it because these school leavers set out in life with hopes, ambitions and aspirations. What is facing them? One could say hopelessness and disillusionment and a feeling of being abandoned by the Establishment, the Establishment led by the Government of the day.
I do not think it is necessary for me to spell out the serious consequences that may ensue. I am glad the Minister for Justice is here because he may well be concerned in the implications of this lack of employment for educated young people and their future role. There may possibly be an urge to more drinking, if the money is available. There may be more drug taking. There may be a move towards subversive activities, if the money is available and, if the money is not available, there may be an urge towards procuring that money by devious means.
I am sure every Member is aware of the seriousness of the situation. I am sure every Member has had the experience of young people and their parents calling on him seeking employment for their children. No matter how one may try to convince parents about how bad the situation is, they are inevitably inclined to argue that their children must get an opportunity. One cannot blame them for that. It is a perfectly natural reaction.
I am sure the speakers on the Government benches will accuse me and possibly some others of scaremongering. That is not the role I am playing. My role is to demonstrate that the Government are not showing a proper awareness. They are not even conscious of the problem, I believe, simply because it has not been examined in depth by them. I appeal to them even at this late hour to take action and give leadership and encouragement to the 50,000 odd school leavers in six weeks' time. We can only estimate the figure and work on last year's figures because no other figures are available to us.
Recently in the House Deputy Moore asked the Minister the number of people who left school in 1975 who had come on the unemployment market and we were told that the figure was 52,000, between first, second and third level education. We are also aware that at a conservative estimate 10,000 of those went back to school for a further year hoping that by returning to their studies at grave inconvenience to their parents and themselves at the end of that time they would be able to secure employment. How frustrated they must be now within a month or a little more of coming on the unemployment market.
We were told in the House last week by the Parliamentary Secretary that 147,000 people were on the unemployment register. If we add to that the several thousand of last year's school leavers and also add on the conservative estimate of 50,000 for this year we can see that there will be in excess of 200,000 unemployed by June, which represents 20 per cent of our workers. This is a very alarming situation. There is no point in Government speakers telling us in the House that by comparing like with like, the register now with that of 1965 or 1966, the same figures apply now as applied then. The really important thing now is that there will be more than 200,000 people unemployed by June. What do the Government intend doing about this? A large proportion of this number will be drawn from the young people I am speaking about. The Government appear to be reluctant to take steps to combat the situation.
We have the Minister for Labour calling on Europe to do something positive about the unemployment situation. Europe, as far away as last July, encouraged countries to take steps. I have here the Council decision of 22nd July, 1975 on action by the European Social Fund for persons affected by employment difficulties. It says:
The Council of the European Communities having regard to certain things has decided as follows:
Specific operations to facilitate the employment and the geographical and professional mobility of young people under 25 years of age who are unemployed or seeking employment shall be eligible to receive assistance from the Social Fund under Article 4, Decision No. 71/66 EEC.
The majority of people under 25 years of age in this country have failed to get employment. As well as that they have failed to get unemployment assistance. I am sure every Deputy has seen young boys—young girls have no opportunity of getting unemployment assistance—who are living at home and because of this the assessment of their means precludes them from obtaining unemployment assistance. The burden is then placed on their families. I know of the case of a widow who continued in her employment as a nurse, She has a 20-year-old boy and when he applied for unemployment assistance he was refused because of the conditions attached. Those instances are not confined to any particular area.
Those able-bodied young boys and girls have absolutely no income. Today the Parliamentary Secretary told us that approximately 83,000 school leavers were on the unemployment register. I believe the inability of the Government to take any positive steps has only been matched by their obvious lack of concern even to get accurate statistics to give us an exact picture of the problem. We have no information yet on last year's school leavers. We do not know how many obtained employment or in what areas they obtained employment. We do not know how many returned to school for a further period. We are just given a conservative estimate of 10,000 people.
There was a report out last week on the employment of university graduates. Quite a number of them obtained employment as bulldozer drivers. There is nothing wrong with such work but when a university graduate gets a job as a bulldozer driver he takes the job from a trained person who could have that job. I also want to refer to the European Community's news feature of 6th August, 1975 where we are given the proportion of young people among the unemployed in the European context. The figures given are Belgium, 34.3 per cent, Denmark, 47.2 per cent, France, 45.8 per cent, Germany, 28.4 per cent, Italy, 32.7 per cent and Ireland 1 per cent. There is a footnote which states that in Ireland the authorities believe that official statistics seriously underestimate the amount of youth unemployment for there is little incentive for young people without work to register as unemployed. The Government tell Europe that the figure is 1 per cent in relation to this category. It must be a huge joke in Europe.
In this report figures are also given for the growth in unemployment, 1973-74 with reference to young people. In relation to Belgium the figure is 64 per cent, Denmark, 80 per cent, France, 75 per cent and down through the other countries to Ireland where we are told that the growth in this period was 121 per cent. What is the point, therefore, of giving a figure of 1 per cent to Europe? No effort is being made to give Europe the details of the problem that faces us.
I also have an information memo from the spokesmen group of the European Communities which gives statistics but for a later date. It is March, 1976. Eight countries are mentioned. The ninth, Ireland, is missing. Obviously, they were so dissatisfied with these figures that they decided there was no point in including them or alternatively no further information had been given by Ireland. That is a disgraceful situation because it proves that not only are the Government not able or prepared to take any steps to cure the situation but are also not prepared to investigate and let us know what our problem really is with the result that everybody is groping in the dark.
On July 22nd last year the Council signified its approval for the extension, as a first step, of assistance from the social fund to cover young people under 25 years of age. What have we heard about that? How much money was put into that? I think money has been spent in two areas. A certain amount has gone into training in AnCO—which is fine; I congratulate AnCO on what they have achieved to date—but at a time like this, that is not enough. The only other area in which I am aware money was expended is on community pilot programmes. I understand we have four of them. We have heard so much about them that one would think that at this stage we would have achieved some reasonable amount of employment in them. In The Irish Times of Monday, 5th April in an article by Maev Kennedy under the heading “People and Work” it is stated:
That the figures for the numbers who would be employed if the scheme were approved of by the Minister to be extended throughout the country varied even more. One source said 2,500 was the target, the Minister himself said that he would like to see up to 1,000 employed, and AnCO itself says that a target of 700 was agreed on, and that this will be reached.
Further down the article states:
Short-term it may be, and small the numbers, but the Community Training Programme remains the only practical step being taken to provide some work immediately for the unemployed. To the critics who worry that it may end up with a famine relief attitude of building bridges across bogs the only answer is to wait and see.
The real number at this stage I believe is 28. That figure was quoted in this article and on checking it with the Department we are told that it is in the region of 20-30. That is not satisfactory. Something effective must be done urgently. The youth are crying out for the type of leadership that will at least give them some temporary employment or involvement in our community. I appreciate the difficulties that can arise for trade unions and so on but I think the trade unions will co-operate if that leadership is given in getting these young people into areas where they will not interfere with jobs for the unemployed which are of paramount importance. I believe we have certain areas of activity that are suitable. While we have bureaucracy such as we have and while we are getting people to work only to the number of 28 in these pilot employment programmes I say that the Government have abandoned the young people and should get out of the way and let somebody do what is needed, somebody who is prepared and has the courage to do it.
The psychological damage that will be done to these young people if employment is not provided will be irreparable. They are for the most part aged between 16 and 21. The frustration of not being able to find employment and continuing to be unemployed has alarming consequences because of disillusionment and disappointment unless the problem is tackled.
The silence from the benches opposite about this problem amazes me. I shall take a few examples at random but you could repeat them from any area of the country. For vacancies for two clerical officers in the North Western Health Board there were over 3,000 applicants. That speaks for itself. For one vacancy for a clerk typist in Leitrim County Council there were almost 500 applicants which again speaks for itself. I can cite the case of a girl who attended interviews with 27 different organisations without success. One can imagine her frustration, disillusionment and disappointment and one can imagine the temptations confronting her in that situation. The same story can be told by my colleagues and by Deputies opposite if they were honest enough to speak up.
Let us look at steps that can be taken to help employment. Tonight we are dealing with young persons and stop-gap measures, but employment and occupation specifically for this group of people who have immense goodwill only waiting to be tapped provided our leaders have the courage to tap it. The resources must be found; they need not be great. A little effort can produce great effect. I am sure the Parliamentary Secretary here could tell more than I can of a community project in Athboy where a group of young people with the right motivations are renovating an old courthouse and converting it into a community centre. This is a wonderful effort. They are using local initiative to finance the project. This type of project could be developed. It will not provide full-time employment but I would put very high in the order of priority the development of community projects with the co-operation of local bodies.
This is something that can be done in cities, towns and in the country. We have many organisations. In our cities we have community associations and residents' organisations. Many of these organisations would be only too delighted to help in doing something positive for our young people. In the rural areas there are many organisations such as Macra na Feirme, Macra na Tuaithe, and so on, which should be encouraged to find local projects in which to involve young people. I am not saying that this is a solution to our unemployment problem, but it would give them the confidence to do something worthwhile for their communities. It does not stop there. Before I go any further on these ideas, I should like to refer to the transitional year in school. At least 10,000 young people have returned to school with little or no aim or target at the end of the school year. Could the Department of Education consider the possibility of using that transitional year to the far greater benefit of the young person? Young people are at a serious disadvantage in seeking employment because there are already so many unemployed who are experienced. Consequently, the Department should consider the training of these young people in the seeking of employment and in the development of skills, rather than having them return to school for another year for the sake of killing time, probably at great financial cost to their parents.
I have always had a personal hobby horse regarding the development of horticulture and forestry plantations. We have tracts of waste land to which the community project could be devoted. I know of young people who have made great use of small plots of land to grow vegetables and flowers from the sale of which they have realised an income. These ideas must be developed. We have not had one idea from the Minister for Labour who should, in fact, be considering these ideas. Surely the Parliamentary Secretary appreciates the seriousness of the situation. We are trying to prod the Government into action to give young people confidence in themselves. They can, of course, make a major contribution towards a cleaner Ireland through our Tidy Towns competition. The face-lift which our Tidy Towns competition has given to many towns and villages has been tremendous. Efforts could be made to rid towns and villages of eyesores and to clean our beach resorts if amenity grants were given towards these schemes.
I do not want to encourage the exploitation of young people as a cheap source of labour. What I am talking about is not so much employment but occupation in the hopefully brief period during which they are seeking employment. Earlier I referred to the pilot community programmes. Again, I appreciate that we cannot overstep on the unemployed people who need jobs at present. After all that was said about them, it is ridiculous to think that we now have only 20 or 30 young people in employment, and I want to push the Minister into expanding that as quickly as possible.
Last year, 7,400 people were trained by AnCO. Again, we have no figures to show how many of those were in the young person's category. If we assume that half of them were, then we are talking about 3,500 people. We have been told that the number will be expanded to 9,000 this year but this is not enough. That conditions of the premium employment programme specifically excluded the young school leavers we are talking about. It did not cater for them because they were not on the live register. Again, we go back to the question of how few have succeeded in getting on the live register. As well as that, the £12 premium employment programme of a year ago has lost its real value. Twelve pounds now is worth far less than it was then, particularly in view of the cost of employing young people. The most important point of all is the one for starting a campaign to give school leavers jobs. Again, I do not want to advocate their exploitation but if the major companies throughout the country gave a start to a number of boys and girls this would help to employ quite a number of them. I know a magic wand cannot be waved to solve the problem, but we must be seen to be taking steps to achieve something in the short term. I have made no effort to go into the solving of our overall employment problem. The reality of the situation is that the Government need the facts. No programmes can be produced unless you have the facts. Even at this stage it is quite obvious to the EEC that the facts being supplied by us were inaccurate. Even at this late stage we should get leadership from this ailing Government to allay the disappointments and fears of the school leavers and their parents.
The content of the motion tabled by the Opposition relates to a very serious aspect of a very serious problem, that is, the current high rate of unemployment. The consequences of the current high rate of unemployment cannot be exaggerated in terms of hardship and loss of morale for those who do not have gainful employment at present.
I appreciate that there is little consolation for the unemployed in stating that they are not alone in their plight and in the hardships which flow from unemployment. This is the unhappy experience of more people in every country in Europe than in any period since the second World War. It is an affliction common to many thousands of people all over Europe but, as I said, this is little consolation to those suffering from the adverse effects of unemployment at present. If we are to appreciate the full extent of the unemployment situation in Ireland it is necessary to put it in a European perspective.
The main thrust of Government policy in relation to unemployment has been our emphasis on capital investment, notably in the most recent budget. Government spokesmen on numerous occasions placed their main reliance on that investment for an early recovery in our economy. This Government, in common with every Government since the foundation of the State, face certain problems posed by the Irish economy. They face the central weaknesses in the Irish economy which other Administrations faced in the past, weaknesses which are, on occasion, masked by the general buoyancy of trade around us but, in this period of recession we see the central weaknesses of our economy unmasked. We have an open economy and we see early repercussions on that economy from any trade depressions in the countries with whom we do business, Britain and elsewhere.
The solution relied on for selling the problem of unemployment among our youth, on which many past administrations relied, was the easily available employment in the neighbouring economy, namely, through taking the emigrant boat to Britain. That solution will not be available to future Administrations because, hopefully, the habit of early emigration has died. Even if the desire were present, the possibility of employment in Britain will not exist in the foreseeable future. Whatever encouraging signs there may be for a recovery in the British economy, it is clear that it will be quite some time before the unemployment problem is brought under control. This is accepted by Chancellor Healey and other spokesmen for the British Government.
There is a recognised lag between recovery in industrial production, in business outlook, in investment and improvement in the employment situation. If many of the firms which ceased production during the recession or curtailed their operations were to resume production, they would do so with a lower work force. Even with an improved trade situation, it will be some time before fresh jobs are offered and an appreciable dent made in the numbers of unemployed. That can be observed even at this time in those economies which are recording a very marked increase in their gross national product.
The improving economic situation in the United States has not seen such automatic correlation between the improving position in industry and the improving position in terms of the unemployed, because the numbers out of work continue at an all time high figure. Most commentators on the United States economic situation accept that it will take some time before that economy begins to take into gainful employment once more those who seek jobs. In the system in which we operate, the United States and German economies are the chief barometers which point to the possibility of renewed help to the economies which depend on their performance.
That would be the general perspective within which we must view our unemployment problems. The solution availed of in the past, the emigrant ship, is no longer available. This must be welcomed for many reasons, which I will not go into now, because it means we are facing a problem now which did not confront other administrations in the past, namely, the problem posed by the large number of unemployed, the efficacy of existing institutions and economic policies followed now and in the past.
As the House is aware, the Minister for Finance will shortly issue what he hopes will be the beginning of a review of all procedures, of our entire approach as it operated in the past, towards the workings of our economy. It is clear that the Irish economy has never succeeded in giving sufficient people a chance of a job. We used the British connection to export our problems. In the so-called prosperous sixties when most of the countries in the Community were doing extremely well, we had the highest unemployment rate coupled with the highest emigration rate for our young people. Throughout those years it was the young who emigrated, and I was a Member of this House when, through motions and questions, many Deputies expressed their concern at the youthful age of many of those leaving the city and country to seek work in Britain. Many suggestions were put forward here on how this traffic in human misery should be ended, how controls could be instituted. There was the scandal of very young people arriving at railway stations up and down Britain in search of work. There was the question of what guidance was to be given to them, whether the State should assist them in finding such jobs in Britain.
With the present rate of British unemployment, that situation no longer obtains. Jobs are not easily available in Britain and therefore we at home are driven once more back to the question that should have been dealt with some time ago: what re-organisation of our resources is required to ensure that our economy in good times and bad is geared to our needs, and remember that we were not able even in good times to given people a sufficient number of jobs, to provide the number seeking work with jobs. Once more we must reorganise our resources, face that question for the first time, in very unpropitious conditions indeed, in a period of high unemployment in every country in Europe, in a period of recession.
Even if there are grounds for optimism in terms of the long-awaited recovery, the facts are that it will be some time before the extra jobs will be there to bring down appreciably our rate of unemployment. However, every effort must be made to bring about recovery as rapidly as possible, and any short-term schemes adopted by us must be such that the recovery will be served by properly trained personnel. Within my own Department that is the main area in which I have been attempting to fulfil objectives. The main responsibility of the Department of Labour in relation to industry is the provision of a sufficient number of trained people.
Deputies may make the point that people who come out of AnCO courses trained are not guaranteed an immediate job in the context of the present recession. That is a fair point to make. Yet I would hold that it does not devalue our efforts, and that coming from this recession we must ensure that our early recovery in industrial production, in relation to new enterprises, is not held up as it was held up in periods of recession before now—although perhaps those periods of recession were not as serious as the present one—because of lack of skilled manpower.
This year under the national training authority 11,000 will be trained, and it must be understood that the majority of the 7,000 trained under that programme in 1975 were in the 18 to 25 age group. This year it will be the very same age group that will be covered. We will be spending over £13,500,000 in our training centres up and down the country. I do not underestimate the extent of the problem before us, but I think it is a concrete instance of the State through its agencies expanding its efforts to meet the demand there is, to ensure that with the aid of the European Social Fund and home resources there will be training facilities for our young people during the period of involuntary unemployment suffered by them. There is a close connection between the level of their earnings and their job security in the future and the kind of skills they have. This is the greatest expansion ever in our training programme. The magnitude of the increase can be gauged from the figures for 1972-73, when we spent £2,500,000 on the entire national training programme, as against over £13,500,000 this year.
Another measure we have introduced, and Deputy Fitzgerald referred to it, is the premium employment programme—the programme which the Minister for Finance announced in his June budget would be under the aegis of the Department of Labour and would involve an input from the Department of Labour to the task of getting people back from the live register into gainful employment. Under that programme we undertook to give certain sums of money, graded over the period, to employers if they brought people back from the live register. As Deputy Fitzgerald knows, the target we set in that programme was 10,000 people. We did not reach that figure. The extra money was there for this purpose but we only reached half way to that target for a variety of reasons —lack of confidence in the market over the period of the programme, the opinion among employers that the prospects for expansion of their investments did not exist then, and the reason Deputy Fitzgerald mentioned, that perhaps the sum of money to be given to each employer was not sufficient.
I have already indicated that we shall be revising that programme shortly. We should soon be in a position to announce our intentions in that regard, because I am convinced that this is the time for employers to expand their workforce, that this is the time for us in this economy to take the risks that are involved in expansion in anticipation of the recovery that is taking place all round us. The worst thing that could happen to us is that we should become victims of pessimism. Of course, there are risks involved at any time in this, but the State will revise the details of the premium employment programme, and I would hope that employers will take up the offer implicit in that programme for the remainder of the year. Thus to assure and to assist those forces in our economy that are now thinking of expansion and reinvestment. I hope I will be in a position shortly to announce those changes.
Will we have an opportunity of discussing that in the House?
I am pretty sure we will be discussing it in the House. It does not relate specifically to the youth unemployment we are talking about here tonight but I noticed Deputy G. Fitzgerald referred to it in his contribution.
I am referring to the same——
Not many school leavers could be employed under that scheme. They have to be working previously. We do not want the Press misled.
An tAire.
For the Deputy's information I refer to that programme.
Kindly allow the Minister to speak. He has only a set time.
I am attempting to confine my remarks to the areas of responsibility of the Department of Labour. The main reliance this Government puts into the recovery effort is that involved in the capital side of the recent budget. Other short-term programmes and schemes we are following are all supplementary and dependent on the success of that budget input. Also I make the point that all our proposals and programmes, whatever the State does here, are limited in their success by the general rate of recovery in all the economies with whom we trade. I think most Deputies accept that that is a limitation on all home efforts since so much of our business activity is dependent on the buoyancy of exports. There are matters relating to the success of our export efforts which lie outside the scope of the debate.
Another item which should be of assistance to Deputies in learning about the extent of this problem of unemployment amongst the young people is that I shall shortly have available, I hope within the next month, the results of the survey conducted in the early months of this year of the level of unemployment amongst school leavers going out of our educational system.
For 1975.
I would not care to comment on those figures now but certainly they will be released in full and we will have an opportunity of coming back to them.
Is there any hope for the future?
One disadvantage we have suffered in understanding the extent of the problem of unemployment among the young people is referred to in one of the EEC publications mentioned by Deputy Fitzgerald. It is that there is not any specific division in our unemployment figures which gives us an accurate idea of the extent of unemployment among our young people. The reason for that I suggest is that really all administrations in the State's history, certainly since the second World War, have not been over-concerned with the problem of unemployment among the young since the problem was in the main looked after by the young leaving in the emigrant ship for jobs in Britain. That must be one of the principal reasons that there is no exact subdivision in the unemployment statistics which give us the facts in this area.
Is it not failure to admit at a time like this that this is the most necessary part of the soluion?
Has the Minister any plan——
(Interruptions.)
An tAire. The Minister should be allowed to speak without interruption.
This survey will provide us with pretty safe indications of the extent of the problem among young school leavers. It is an area in which there is quite a lot of conjecture. These surveys have given us a more firm basis than was available in the past on which to assess the extent of the problem. No one, therefore, can be complacent about the present situation which gives us so high a figure of unemployment. It is true that as an Administration we have done our utmost to see that the hardship of those who are unemployed is to the greatest extent possible mitigated by the benefits we give them when unemployed, but this in no way compensates the individual concerned for the loss of gainful employment and of respect and morale.
How many school leavers are getting benefit?
How many young girls are getting benefit? They cannot get it.
Even though we have increased and improved out of all recognition the financial aids there are to those out of work, it is true that for young people who are unemployed, who have not been at work for the first time, who do not have the stamps to qualify for unemployment benefit, the assistance available to them is very much means tested in that in many cases there is no financial assistance.
In most cases.
The Deputies opposite will accept that the main financial contribution entrusted to the State to aid for those out of work must continue to be in regard to the older adult categories. That is not to say we have not had certain proposals and schemes put forward to assist young people who find themselves, as a result of the present recession, out of work.
Reference was made to the community youth project programme. We can take some pride in the fact that, although we do not exaggerate its impact on the present employment situation, it was on our initiative at the council of social affairs in Europe at which the regulations of the social fund were made that young people out of work in the various countries could be assisted from the social fund which would supplement the national effort to get such young people back to work. In that programme, which is under the aegis of the national training authority, about 50 projects have been proposed at present. Under that programme boys and girls up to the age of 25 are recruited from the National Manpower Service and are engaged, after an induction period in a national training authority centre, in projects such as renovating the houses of old people, painting and decorating, hotel work and similar activities. In other words, we have attempted to bring a training element into work which the State would finance and see to it that young people out of work could be given employment which could not complete with or diminish the employment prospects of other categories of workers who found themselves out of work at this time and who might find themselves having family responsibilities of one kind or another.
How many are employed on those projects?
The Minister must not be interrupted. He has only three minutes left.
About 50 projects have been proposed and it is our objective to get 1,000 young people into employment as a result of the community youth training programme. The projects are of about three months' duration and it has been our objective in consultations between our Department officials and the training authority, to ensure that each project team would consist of seven persons. The tasks carried out are jobs that would not otherwise be done and the trainees are paid the normal training allowance during the period of their involvement. The programme has been confined so far to the four pilot projects in Dublin, Dún Laoghaire, Dundalk and Drogheda. It is planned to continue with the programme and to extend it to all areas during the coming year. In consultation with the local authorities, with trade unions because there is a lot of consultation needed with trade unions, because we must have their agreement before each project can be got off the ground, I hope to see something like 1,000 young people employed by means of this programme during the year.
In stating that it may be of some assistance I do not make the point that this programme is in any sense a solution. Obviously it is not. Nothing less than complete recovery would be a solution, recovery at a faster pace providing more jobs than ever before. Nothing less than that would be a satisfactory response to the present unemployment situation. However, I say it is evidence of our efforts as an Administration to see that no stone is left unturned, to see that even in the short-term programmes and schemes are brought forward, to see that as many of our young people as possible are brought back into employment. Therefore, if you take in combination with what we are doing under the national training authority—more young people being trained than ever before—what we are doing in the general short-term scheme of the community youth training programme——
28 jobs.
Next month I hope that over the entire country, and with the extra money we have devoted to the council for the education. recruitment and training, that 600 young people will be brought into training for the tourist and catering industries. Those interviews will be held next month. All this is an indication that we are trying to ensure that as many schemes and aids as possible, consistent with the resources available to us, are provided for our young people who are out of work.
I support the motion. I should like to mention that it is my belief that if this discussion was held in any hall in any part of the country there would be an overflow audience because the parents are so worried and depressed about the situation. They expect that something will be done for our youth and for that reason they will listen to all speakers on the subject. For that reason I should like to record my condemnation of the fact that when this motion was called there were three Fianna Fáil Members present but no Government Ministers or representative. It is easy to understand, therefore, the cynicism of our people when they hear the Government talking about cherishing all the children equally. They did not deem it their duty to send somebody in to the House for this important debate. The lesson will not be lost on the general public and if they are cynical and say that it is their view that the Government could not care less, the absence of a spokesman on behalf of the Government tonight is ample proof that they could not care less.
Irish parents never stop rearing their children because they have a deep concern for their children's future and that is carried on for many years after their children have married. For that reason one can express sympathy and understanding with parents who, having reared their children to intermediate or leaving certificate standard and seen them pass those examinations with distinction, find that there is no employment for them. Last year 52,500 left school to seek employment and I wonder how many of them were successful in their search for employment. The Minister for Labour spoke of other economies and how they are affected by unemployment and we know about this. He mentioned two countries, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany, and I should like to remind him that those countries are improving in their economic outlook and performance. That is easy to understand because those Government took action to bring about a revival of their economy while our Government did very little. Our Government failed to accept the challenge of youth with the result that our youth, and their parents, are despondent. The Government stand condemned.
We will be accused of making political capital out of this issue but we do not have to do so. The people have lost faith in the Government. One great failure was that the Government, despite the calls from many people, have not yet produced any kind of policy on youth. We heard various explanations by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, Deputy Bruton, at youth conferences but the people are convinced that the Government have no idea of what a youth policy should be. The Minister spoke about what happened before, about emigration, and told us that that was how a previous Government solved their problem. I should like to remind the Minister that we still suffer from emigration. A short time ago Deputy Wyse and myself raised on the Adjournment the question of the report of the Irish Centre in Camden Town, London. That report contained disturbing facts about the emigration of young Irish boys and girls to London. The Minister cannot glibly say that we do not have emigration and that is the reason the youth employment problem is so pressing. I accept that emigration has reduced considerably but the problem is still with us. However, that is no answer.
The Government should try to see the present crisis as it exists because it calls for radical action. There is no evidence of a desire to combat this problem. Last Saturday a meeting was held in an hotel in this city of concerned citizens to discuss this. The Minister cannot suggest that the organisations involved in that meeting were anti-Government, pro-Government or political. Represented at the meeting were the Junior Chamber of Commerce, Lions International, Rotary International, the Knights of Columbanus and members of religious orders. They wanted to bring forward suggestions as to how our youth could be gainfully employed. The primary responsibility for this problem rests on the Government. I accept that the Opposition have a duty but we are fulfilling that duty by bringing the problem to the attention of the House. We have also made suggestions as to how this crisis might be solved or, at least, eased.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach, Deputy Kelly, and the Secretary of the Labour Party, Senator Halligan, called for radical action in order to solve our economic problems. It sounds laughable that we should have two Government representatives calling for action when they are in a position to take action. We can do very little but the Government have the resources at their disposal if they wish to deal with the problem. There is little point in telling us that we should do something. The Government have shown no initiative. The Minister promised us tonight the 15th point in the National Coalition programme, a new economic plan.
Having looked at the 14-point plan since 1973 I hope that the 15 points will be a lot better.
The second chapter of Alice in Wonderland.
Exactly. The youth are growing tired of Government inactivity and of seeing the inept performance of the Government. I have not forgotten that there is certain economic depression throughout the world at present. I condemn the Government because there is no constructive action or thought by the Government in relation to the problems. All we get are foolish statements telling us what will happen tomorrow. Life concerns what is happening today, so the Government should try to improve their thinking on it. The Government's laissez faire policies are totally unsuited to the country. They do not give hope to the youth or to the aged for future development. I believe that the people would respond to good leadership from the Government in seeking a solution to our present problems. We never have Government leadership in this regard. We only have Government spokesmen saying that the law should be amended or that the Constitution should be amended so that we have divorce and contraception and so on. They say nothing about the 120,000 unemployed who are on social welfare benefit. Nothing is said about the numbers of school leavers who cannot get jobs.
The people are not fooled by these statements. They see them as an attempt to deceive and to take their minds off the economic situation, in the hope that tomorrow something will turn up. This is not good enough for the people. There is a lack of opportunity at the moment for young boys and girls to serve apprenticeships. In about four years' time there will be an enormous number of unemployed unskilled people seeking jobs throughout the country. There will be a scarcity of skilled labour because the Government have never tried to grapple with the unemployment situation. The time has come when the Government must tackle this problem, or leave office. We on this side of the House are willing and prepared to grapple with problems. We have the dedication, the enthusiasm and the commitment to try to pull the economy of this country round, and offer some hope to the youth. I agree that there are difficulties in creating full-time employment overnight. The activities of AnCO should be enlarged to make them a real training organisation. I would like to pay tribute to AnCO for what they are doing with the slender means they have. I have confidence in the great job they could do if given the facilities.
The Government should do something to ensure that we can rejuvenate our economy. The Government should assess our needs for tradesmen, teachers and so on and formulate a plan to fulfil the need. The Minister's premium employment scheme did not even reach half the target set for it of 10,000 jobs. There were only 4,500 jobs and school leavers were not included in that. The Minister should look at this scheme again and expand it to include the youth. I believe the people will be prepared to finance a scheme which would create gainful employment for youth. We do not get that type of leadership and each day the youth becomes more despondent. The youth want to be trained and want to work. They are being denied this opportunity by the Government's lack of policy and action. Because the youth of today are the leaders and Government of tomorrow our generation has a responsibility to ensure that there will be a future for them. If the Government do not do something about the employment situation there will be very little future for them. Perhaps the Government have grown tired and are not trying to solve the problem; they have grown prisoners of their promises in the last election and having promised so much and achieved so little they have become despondent and cynical.
It is a case of the lighthouse in a bog.
Yes. That is a comparison that has been made in regard to some of the Members—brilliant but useless. The situation is much too serious merely to allow the Government to continue with their daily enunciations on matters that are irrelevant and in which the people are not interested. What the people want to know is what the Government propose to do to bring about the opportunities to which our young people are entitled and which will have to be provided if we are to have any future as a nation. Sixty years have passed since the 1916 Rising but the dreams of the men and women of that time have not been fulfilled. Moreover, I shall not blame the Government for this situation but during their term in office our people have lost the will and enthusiasm that are necessary to help them advance in the future.
Debate adjourned.