Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2021
54. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Finance if he will report on discussions he has had with the European Commission and its latest country-specific recommendations under the European semester process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31782/21]
View answerI ask the Minister if he will report on discussions he has had with the European Commission with respect to its latest country-specific recommendations under the European semester process; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The European semester is a mechanism to co-ordinate economic policies across EU member states to help achieve overall economic stability and growth. On 2 June, the European Commission published the 2021 European semester spring package. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, this exceptional semester cycle has been adapted to facilitate the implementation of the recovery and resilience facility, RRF, with the primary change being that for 2021 there are no country reports or country-specific recommendations, CSRs. Instead, the spring package is focusing on providing budgetary guidance to member states.
In that context, member states received three generalised budgetary CSRs. For Ireland, these were: first, in 2022, to pursue a supportive budgetary stance; second, when economic conditions allow to pursue a budgetary policy aimed at achieving prudent medium-term budgetary positions and ensuring budgetary sustainability into the medium term; and, third, to pay particular attention to the composition of public finances, both on the revenue and expenditure sides of the balance, and to the quality of budgetary measures to ensure a sustainable and inclusive recovery.
While the CSRs have yet to be discussed by finance ministers at ECOFIN, my Department has engaged with the Commission and other countries at the relevant Council committees and we have broadly welcomed the publication of this document in spring. Once approved by ECOFIN, the CSRs will then be formally adopted by leaders at the European Council.
In previous years, the European semester has laid significant emphasis on labour activation measures. I imagine that when we get around to it again, if anything, that will be more so the case given the high levels of youth unemployment, so I want to focus on this for a moment. The recent history in this State regarding training schemes has not been great. I need only mention the infamous JobBridge scheme. Participants in JobBridge at the time received €188 per week plus a €50 top-up, which was cheap labour. Are we going to see a repeat of that? What guarantees can the Minister give that we will not see a repeat of that? Nearly 60% of people in JobBridge did not complete their internships and fewer than 20% were offered jobs in their host companies. What guarantees can the Minister give the House that the next round of training, which the Government has in the pipeline, will not be of a similar ilk?
Deputy Barry is correct that at other points the country-specific recommendations referred to how we can get young people trained and back into good jobs quickly after being unemployed. This is important in the context of this pandemic because young people have seen such a big change in their incomes and such a loss of jobs. I assure the Dáil that any plans we put together will be solely focused on how jobs can be created and young people can go into jobs where they will receive the training and support they need to accelerate their careers after the dreadful effects of the pandemic.
I am aware of Deputy Barry's views on other schemes that have existed in the past. He and I will differ on that. Some of those schemes were effective in helping to create work and get young people into those jobs.
The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, has said the new round of training schemes will pay more than the JobBridge scheme with its €50 top-up did in the past. I have argued that a €60, €70 or €80 top-up will not cut it and that there needs to be decent pay for trainees. Will the Minister be more specific than the Minister for Social Protection and give us a broad outline of what the pay rates will be? He mentioned that any plans will be solely focused on jobs. What guarantees can be given that this will be real training and that there will be guaranteed jobs at the end of it? At the very least, the percentage of job offers made should be well in excess of the 20% or less we saw with JobBridge. Last but not least, we have been hearing about the training schemes in the pipeline for some time. When will we get more information and detail about them?
Many of the various training and educational programmes announced by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, earlier in this pandemic have been implemented. For example, we have had good uptake in the apprenticeship and training programmes that have been put in place. The Minister for Social Protection has said that as we get to the point where our economy is more safely and sustainably open, we will put in place additional training programmes through the Department of Social Protection to help young people get work. Can I give the Deputy a guarantee that there will be jobs available to everybody at the end of them? That will probably be a difficult guarantee to give because we cannot guarantee an outcome on behalf of an employer or somebody who was on a training programme. However, I can guarantee the Deputy that we will do all we can to make sure programmes are in place that help young people to get back to work. The Minister for Social Protection will outline the terms and conditions of those programmes when their design is finalised.
