I welcome the opportunity to say a few words on this motion which welcomes this report. One of the reasons why young people can be so cynical, and this report indicates some of their cynicism of political groupings, is the fact that in any debate we tend to have in either House of the Oireachtas there tends to be a certain element of political sniping at one another and trying to show that the other side has been remiss in certain areas. When you are dealing with an area like youth and the problems with which they are confronted and what we should do about them, they will be cynical if we just cast reflections at one another for political reasons.
During the last year of the previous Government's term of office, under the previous Taoiseach, the unemployment figures went up by 40,000. Many of those were young people. There is no satisfaction for young people in hearing me say that or saying that I am satisfied we are doing everything we possibly can in this area, because no matter what we do, with unemployment of the magnitude of 250,000 or thereabouts, it is not a problem peculiar to Ireland, it is also a problem in Britain and in most European countries. Unemployment is now running at 13,000,000. There is a major redirection of resources and commitment that all of us will have to take on board and see what exactly we can do for young people. The time for political sniping is over, because the young people are cynical of all of us. They want to see action now.
I welcome this report which was commissioned by the Government to put together, in as precise a form as possible, all the areas to which we as legislators should address ourselves. Under the excellent chairmanship of Mr. Justice Costello they have come up with a most excellent report and I would certainly commend it. I would also commend all those who participated in it. In respect of some of the participants their political affiliations are mentioned. In order that I would not be accused of being partisan I welcome the fact that Young Fine Gael participated as did the youth affairs officer of the SDLP. I wonder if Ogra Fianna Fáil were requested to be members of it or whether the Labour youth were there and whether they reacted for or against it. I am pleased that The Workers' Party made a submission, because in this area there must be an overall commitment from all of us. Perhaps Orga Fianna Fáil were involved. I know they have made a major commitment to it. Perhaps the Labour youth decided they would not participate.
I welcome the commitment of the Minister of State with responsibility for Youth Affairs, Deputy George Birmingham. The Minister said he was prepared to consider applications from all political parties for grant assistance towards the employment of an educational officer with a specific remit in the area of political education. Above all, and this is where the cynicism comes from, there is a lack of the knowledge of how the democratic process works here or in any country and a lack of interest among young people in how it works. Interview board members for local authorities or health boards will say that they always discover a complete lack of interest or knowledge among young people they interview in civic matters.
This must be a matter of concern to all of us, and for that reason I welcome the Minister's commitment to look at the political structures in an apolitical way and try to help the younger sections of those parties to have somebody to educate people along these lines, because it is a very, very important step. All of us who have any sort of commitment to the democratic process would want to see a continuing development of that concept and to understand completely how the system works. In this regard I would specifically ask the new curriculum board to address themselves to this problem and the importance of civics, ensuring that civics at that level is taught in our educational system.
In other countries, particularly in Germany, there is a teaching programme set up by a trust of one of the great founders of democracy in Germany to ensure that this objective will always be carried through and that all young Germans will actually be instilled with this knowledge of and understanding of and admiration for the democratic process. They have done that on the basis that when there is a danger to democracy by dictators or otherwise it is the young people of the country who always will be at risk first because they can be abused, misused or misled. Unless we instill in them at a very early age the whole fundamental principles of democracy it is quite likely that dictatorships could take over with the assistance of young people. That could easily happen here because they tend to turn frustrated away from the democratic process.
I am pleased that this report indicated that as regards violence and violent means towards the reunification of the country the young people who were surveyed did not reflect that view. But it is important that other democracies have spent money in the area of civic education for young people. I agree with the Leas-Chathaoirleach that the real wealth of this country lies in our youth and our future and indeed their own future depend on how they will respond to the immense challenge that faces them going into the next century.
I have suggested what the curriculum board might do and how they might approach the problem of changing the area of learning, to improve on the area of vocational education and technological education and not to be totally dependent on the system of education which we have had for a long number of years without reviewing it. It is important that we should review education and training skills. The educational system must be geared towards the computer and the microchip age which we are now in, and towards the changes that are likely to take place in the future. I am quite sure that if young people are educated and suitably qualified they can enjoy a very happy and healthy way of spending their leisure time and the increasing amount of leisure time that the younger generations are likely to have in the foreseeable future because of all the advances in technology. But if we as legislators ignore the main recommendations of this excellent report, particularly chapter 16 on page 250, then we will be the losers. I will quote a comment on the Taoiseach's statement from page 259 because the Leas-Chathaoirleach misquoted him. The Taoiseach made his remarks when he set up this committee to study the problem. The committee stated:
We are particularly heartened, therefore, by two things, which the Taoiseach said when speaking at our first meeting. He expressed the determination that we would not be seen as just another committee set up to talk away commitments, and later when explaining why a 12-month deadline was set for our report he underlined the urgency of our work by pointing out that we cannot afford the luxury of a leisurely debate.
Those remarks were directed at the members of the committee and not at the Members of the Oireachtas. They did not have a leisurely debate, they came up with their report in the appointed time and it is appropriate that they were set that guideline by the Taoiseach and the Government. In fairness, any statements that have emanated following the publication of that and any action that has been taken by the Minister of State present and indeed by the Government show that we all want action and not just a leisurely debate. It is appropriate that the Houses of the Oireachtas would debate it, but we do not want a leisurely debate. There is a very special role for youth in International Youth Year designated by the United Nations.
People want to pick out the sections of last week's budget that they do not like, and in every budget there are sections that people do not like, but the budget contained one common strand relating to these recommendations and to our commitment to young people, and that is the whole area of special allocations, capital and otherwise, that have been designated to youth this year, in the areas of sport, culture and training. So we cannot say that there has not been an instant response by way of budgetary provision and a commitment from everybody concerned that we would particularly mark the year by stimulating all these activities which in themselves are very important but in my opinion are not the most important.
I commend the Minister present for the way, immediately on taking office, he removed any doubt that youth leaders might have had throughout the country, and there was an element of doubt among them because for some reason the previous Government did not see fit to put them in place permanently without any doubts hanging over where their survival was. This Minister did that and it has been recognised. He invested quite a lot of money, and most of us who are involved with young people will be forever grateful because they were at sixes and sevens to know where they were going. That element of doubt about what we felt about the importance of their role has been removed.
The Youth Employment Agency has been set up and has Niall Green as its head, and has quite an amount of money available to it. It is now involved with AnCO to ensure that there is no duplication. Everybody that we speak to looks to people like Niall Green with a lot of regard for his ingenuity and intelligence and how he has addressed this problem. It is a major step forward in trying to ensure that there is a specific programme to employ young people. We cannot ignore the major contribution of AnCO, the vocational education committees which I am associated with, of CERT which has done a major job in the food industry and of ACOT with a green certificate in farming. There is a whole project and programme for identifying those areas, through Macra and otherwise, young people and the contribution they can make, and there is positive proof of this special emphasis.
In the end, our performance will be judged on how many young people we can actually place in productive employment. I was involved recently in the opening of a career guidance seminar over two days run by the sisters of a secondary school in County Tipperary and I have no doubt, listening to all the young people who contributed at that opening, that their one wish is to get into productive employment. It is important that we would consult with the trade union movement in this, because they have a major role to play. I would ask that the Government and ICTU would work hand in hand to come to grips with the problem of unemployment among our young people.
Our young people are better educated than ever before. They need direction and leadership. They need to be involved in all decisions made on their behalf. I know that this is happening through the national youth organisations, the cooperatives and all other movements involving young people. We want to put all these items on a secure permanent footing. What the Minister has done so far has given a tremendous boost in this area.
Any of the youth organisations we have come in contact with we can always talk to about their programmes of activities, what they are engaged in and what they would feel they would like to do for themselves. It is not enough just to identify the problems. We must act on these problems. Society is prepared to make a contribution towards this — the 1 per cent is an indication of that. The contribution that people in employment are prepared to make to the national Exchequer is in the interests of young people. Such contributions will be rewarded because the results for the national development of our country as a whole will be reflected by the happiness and peace young people can enjoy in employment and the satisfaction that they will have in doing something rather than just hanging around waiting to be directed by their peers and politicians. That is why they treat us so cynically. We must act and be seen to be acting. This Minister has a commitment to that, and I commend him for his efforts so far.