Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD, Seán Crowe, has called on the Government to urgently speed up and expand initiatives aimed at tackling youth joblessness. Crowe said it needs to be prioritised and ‘grabbed by the scruff of the neck’ before it gets any worse.

Crowe, who is a member of the Oireachtas EU Affairs Committee, raised the issue with Minister of State for Europe, Paschal Donohoe this week.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“The latest Quarterly National Household Survey results, which detail the rate of unemployment and were released in August, make for depressing reading.

“While there has been a fall in the number of young people out of work, there has also been a significant fall in the number of young people in work and active in the labour force.

“While some of these young people will have gone into training, the vast majority will have emigrated.

“In Tallaght there are 2,249 people under the age of 25 unemployed and signing on the live register. I suspect that the unemployment figure is much higher, as a number of youth workers have informed me that many young people are so disillusioned and disengaged that are not signing on or claiming any assistance. This is what a viable youth employment initiative would begin to change.

“Like most community activists, I am very concerned with the slow pace of the implementation of the youth initiative and the promised youth guarantee. The low level of investment, particularly from the Irish government doesn’t inspire confidence or suggest there is any urgency coming from that quarter.

“The Government need to speed up and expand initiatives aimed at tackling youth joblessness and make full use of the promised European Youth Guarantee fund.

“This issue needs to be grabbed by the scruff of the neck and made one of the key priorities of the Government or we will continue to see our young people emigrate, or get trapped in the cul de sac of long-term unemployment.”

ENDS