Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 January 2014
731. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the proposed role of her Department in contributing to the implementation of the youth guarantee; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1790/14]
View answerThe youth sector, which is largely funded by my Department, offers a range of programmes and activities which aid and enhance the employability of young people. There is a growing body of research evidence which highlights how engagement in quality programmes helps young people to acquire important life skills such as confidence, problem solving, resilience and the ability to develop and maintain positive relationships and how it can enhance young people’s competences for communication, leadership and innovation and their employability.
Aside from direct programme provision, youth work services and programmes also offer outreach and information provision which can support and strengthen the work of existing strategies for young unemployed people. The flexible bespoke approaches which are demonstrated in the many initiatives, developed in the youth sector and underway on a limited basis in different parts of the country, have significant potential to be a bridgehead into more formal education and training opportunities for marginalised young people.
My Department continues to work closely with the Departments of Education and Skills, Social Protection and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, to identify in what ways, the youth sector can contribute to shared policy objectives to address youth employment, in particular with respect to the potential of non-formal learning to reach out to those young people not in education, training and employment and to measures to implement the Youth Guarantee. The National Youth Work Advisory Committee, whose members include representatives of voluntary youth work organisations, is also considering issues to do with progressing this important agenda for our young people.
I , and officials of my Department have met, and continue to meet with many youth organisations and groups to see how we can work together to bring about the best possible outcomes for young people and to ensure that the programmes and services being provided are relevant and responsive to young people’s needs, including the area of employment.
