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Youth Unemployment Measures

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 March 2013

Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Questions (308, 341, 342, 343)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

308. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection in view of the EU Council recommendation to introduce a youth employment initiative, if she will confirm the Minister that will take the lead in rolling out the initiatives for tackling youth unemployment, including the youth guarantee. [15281/13]

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Peadar Tóibín

Question:

341. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection following on from the June 2011 council conclusions, the cooperation that has been undertaken with the social partners, employment services and other labour market stakeholders and education and training providers to target youth unemployment and youth not in education, employment or training. [15276/13]

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Peadar Tóibín

Question:

342. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection as part of the Europe 2020 strategy, the legal and administrative obstacles that were identified to ensure that all young persons are in a job or further education within four months of leaving school. [15278/13]

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Peadar Tóibín

Question:

343. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the way the Government is identifying the appropriate timescale for implementation of youth guarantee in Ireland's current employment and budgetary circumstances; the criteria being used; the way a youth guarantee will be phased in; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15280/13]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 308 and 341 to 343, inclusive, together.

Work on the issue of youth unemployment arising from both the June 2011 Council conclusions and the Europe 2020 Strategy is now reflected both in the work of the Commission in presenting the guarantee recommendation in December 2012, and the work of the Irish Presidency in negotiating the recommendation through the Council.

Under my chairmanship, the Council of Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Ministers (EPSCO) last month agreed a recommendation on an EU-wide Youth Guarantee. The EPSCO Recommendation is that each Member State should ensure that young people receive a quality offer of employment or of continued education, an apprenticeship or traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed. The Recommendation will now move to be considered for formal adoption by the Council at a later stage in Ireland's Presidency - most likely in May.

The Recommendation encourages Member States to implement its provisions as soon as possible once it is formally adopted. It is also recognised that implementation will need to be more gradual in countries with higher levels of youth unemployment and particularly severe budgetary problems. The Department intends to work with youth and other agencies to maximise the impact of a youth guarantee in Ireland. For example, numerous organisations (e.g. IBEC, Ballymun Job Centre, National Youth Council of Ireland) have agreed to participate in the proposed pilot Youth Guarantee project, for which we have sought funding from the European Commission.

In anticipation of the formal adoption of the Recommendation, the government will review the current range of youth employment and training policies in Ireland to assess what measures will need to be taken to commence the gradual implementation of the guarantee. This will include the identification of what would be the appropriate timescale for implementation in Ireland's current employment and budgetary circumstances. We do not anticipate any significant administrative difficulties, given that this Department, together with the Department for Education & Skills, the Department for Children & Youth Affairs and the Department for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation already administer significant schemes to generate employment, education and training opportunities and to ensure that young people have access to such opportunities. The Youth Guarantee will support rather than impede or replace this work. I, as Minister for Social Protection will work with my colleagues in Cabinet with responsibility for these portfolios to further the implementation of the Youth Guarantee.

The scale and nature of the measures required will depend on the trend in youth unemployment, and in particular the number of young people likely to experience periods of unemployment of more than four months under current policies. In this context, it is a welcome development that the official labour market figures published by the CSO recently indicated that the number of young unemployed at the end of 2012, at 59,000, a reduction of almost 9,000 on the same time a year earlier. It is to be hoped that this is the beginning of a sustained downward movement in youth unemployment as the economy recovers. Even so, the implementation of a guarantee will, almost certainly require an expansion in the range of opportunities currently on offer to young people in the form of further education, training, internships, subsidised private-sector recruitment, and supports for self-employment.

In this regard the State already provides a significant number of places which are available to young people and the Department of Social Protection took steps in Budget 2013 to increase funding and places for schemes such as JobBridge, Community Employment, TÚS and a new state employment scheme in the local Government sector. In total an additional 10,000 places will be provided. The Department of Education also made provision for the new MOMENTUM programme which is providing 6,500 new training places many of which will be taken up by young people. A new recruitment incentive – JobsPlus – has also been developed by my Department and was approved by the Government as part of the Action Plan for Jobs. This incentive will cover the cost of c. €1 in every €4 of an employer’s wage costs and will be launched for availability by July 2013.

The size and the timescale for any additional provision, over and above that outlined above that is both desirable and feasible will be established over the coming months.

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