Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 July 2013
70. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Social Protection her priorities for areas within her Department which she will be recommending for no further cuts in budget 2014; and her views on her Department's plans to enhance work activation schemes for young unemployed persons here following the agreement reached on the Youth Guarantee scheme at European level. [33208/13]
View answerThe Government have not made any decisions in relation to measures to be introduced in Budget 2014. The Government will finalise its consideration of the Budget in the coming months having regard to all of its commitments, including the commitment in the Programme for Government to maintain core welfare rates. The outcome of this process will be announced on Budget Day.
Youth unemployment continues to present a major challenge for Ireland as it does for most Member States. Recognising the urgency required in tackling the challenge of youth joblessness, the EPSCO Council quickly agreed on the Recommendation on a Youth Guarantee in February. The Government and the Department were at the forefront of securing agreement on the adoption of the EU Council Recommendation on the Youth Guarantee. The Recommendation is that Member States should: Ensure that all young people under the age of 25 years receive a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education .
As part of the European Council agreement on the 2014 – 2020 EU Budget in February, it was decided, in association with the agreement on the Youth Guarantee, to provide €6 billion for a new Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) for regions with particularly high levels of youth unemployment. This funding will consist of €3 billion from the European Social Fund and an additional €3 billion from a new Youth Employment budget line. Proposals supported by the Irish Presidency that payments of the Youth Employment Initiative be front-loaded and all monies provided for this purpose be used in 2014 and 2015 were approved by the European Council last month. In addition, the European Council President, Herman Van Rompuy intimated in the final days of the Irish Presidency that a further €2 billion may be available, arising from proposed changes to the EU’s Multiannual Finance Framework.
It is recognised, both in the Youth Guarantee Recommendation itself and more generally, that the pace of implementation must take account of the scale of the youth unemployment and inactivity challenge and consider the fiscal capacity of each Member State. At the same time, Member States should take all possible measures to ensure that the Recommendation is swiftly implemented. For our own part, the Government will now review the current range of youth employment policies in Ireland to assess what measures will need to be taken to commence the implementation of the Guarantee. It is intended to produce a concrete plan for the implementation of the Guarantee before the end of 2013. The Government intends to work with all relevant stakeholders to maximise the impact of a Youth Guarantee in Ireland.
The scale and nature of any additional measures required for the implementation of a Guarantee at national level 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. While recent trends have been positive in this regard, 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 and training, internships, subsidised private-sector recruitment, and supports for self-employment. In terms of a starting point to implementation, we sought funding from the European Commission (€250,000) for a proposed pilot Youth Guarantee project in the Ballymun area. I am pleased to say that our submission was one of those approved by the commission for funding and I expect that the Ballymun project will commence later this year.
