Ar dtús, I want to join with the Tánaiste and an Teachta Ó Fearghaíl in expressing my solidarity with the people of the Philippines. Aontaím leis an Taoiseach agus leis an Teachta Ó Fearghaíl faoi na daoine bochta ansin agus cuirim fáilte roimh an tacú atá á thabhairt ag an Rialtas do na daoine sin.

Inniu tá ceist agam faoin aos óg agus an dífhostaíocht. Tuigim go bfhuil an Taoiseach i bPáras inniu ag bualadh le ceannairí ón Aontas Eorpach le fadhb na dífhostaíochta i measc an aosa óig a phlé, ach sa Stát seo tá an Rialtas ag gearradh siar agus ag déanamh ionsaithe ar sochair ár n-aos óg.

In October, the budget took almost one third of the jobs seeker's allowance from young people aged under 25. Benefits for 20,000 young people were cut by €44 per week. The Tánaiste claimed at the time that this was to encourage these young people to get back to work. He denied that this had anything to do with the Government's austerity policy and he committed to investing in the Youth Guarantee scheme to provide jobs, training and education within four months. A leaked document from the Department of Social Protection, however, has revealed that the Government will not keep to its commitments.

I am sure the Tánaiste knows that the International Labour Organisation has estimated that a decent youth guarantee, like the Swedish model, will cost approximately €6,600 per participant. Is the Government putting that sum into the scheme here to help unemployed young people? No, it is putting a miserly €260 into the pockets of each of these young people. Does the Tánaiste accept that the Youth Guarantee scheme is woefully inadequate and encourages youth emigration?

The 2014 action plan for jobs sets out seven priorities, none of which includes youth unemployment or youth emigration. Why is this so? If the Government is serious about the Youth Guarantee scheme and getting our young people back to work, why does the 2014 action plan for jobs not include youth unemployment or youth emigration as priorities to be tackled?

He is hoping they will be in Canada.

Why does Deputy Adams have such difficulty with the truth? Why does he get up and twist everything? We all know that there is a very big problem with youth unemployment in this country. That is why the Government has made tackling the jobs crisis - and youth unemployment, in particular - a priority. Happily, we are seeing some progress. At the height of the crisis in 2009, there were 83,000 young people unemployed. The figure is now down to 59,000.

Thanks to Australia.

It is far too high. That is why during the course of Ireland's EU Presidency we led a proposal to tackle the issue of youth unemployment in this country and across Europe, and agreed proposals for a youth guarantee scheme. In addition to agreeing the proposals, we went on to provide European money for the scheme. The original proposal was that this would be dealt with over a seven year period leading up to 2020, which was far too long. The problem of youth unemployment is here and we must address it now. That is why we front-loaded EU funding to 2014 and 2015 in order to deal with it.

In addition, we have provided for a range of initiatives which are being taken by the Government across the education and training areas. Youth initiatives include the JobsPlus and JobBridge schemes, Intreo and Momentum. A range of such measures are aimed at getting young people into employment. We have reduced the eligibility for getting onto JobsPlus from 12 to six months. We have also provided for an additional intake of 1,500 young people on the JobBridge scheme. We have ensured that there are an extra 1,000 places on the Tús scheme and we have ring-fenced a minimum of 2,000 places in the various Department of Education and Skills training schemes. We have made funds available for young entrepreneurs via the micro-finance scheme. In total, the specific provisions across these headings in the 2014 budget come to €46 million.

Tell that to Labour Youth.

Next year, there will be more than 20,000 places available specifically for young job seekers at work. That is in addition to the remaining 58,000 places which are available across the various initiatives we are taking. At the end of the day, the provision of places in training, work experience and education is about preparing young people to go to work. Ultimately, what is required is the generation of real jobs with good incomes and futures. That is why we are also succeeding on that front with an additional 3,000 jobs being created every month. I was at the opening of a company providing 100 of those jobs yesterday in the Dublin Docklands. The company has an online recruitment service and already employs 100 young people here, but it will employ an additional 100 people. We need more of that and are seeing more of that.

As far as the Government is concerned, there is nothing more important than the creation of employment and in particular the creation of job opportunities for young people. That is why the Taoiseach and the Minister for Social Protection are in Paris today to discuss this issue at a meeting convened by President Hollande.

Chubby Checker would envy the Tánaiste's ability to do the twist. He has refused to answer my question.

He did not answer my question. If the Tánaiste is as serious about youth unemployment as he says he is, then why does the 2014 action plan for jobs not include youth unemployment? Why has the Government not tackled youth emigration as a priority? During Ireland's EU Presidency the Tánaiste claimed that the Youth Guarantee scheme was one of his big ideas. Yet in the budget a miserable €14 million was put into that scheme, while it sliced €32 million from young people's income support. That is a net loss of €18 million.

The Taoiseach and Minister for Social Protection can pirouette around Paris to their heart's content but the fact is that the Youth Guarantee scheme is falling apart. Will the Tánaiste acknowledge that it will not bring forward the promised upskilling or the provision of employment and education opportunities for young people? If it is a priority, why is it not in the Government's jobs plan for 2014?

Where did Deputy Adams get the idea that it is not in the jobs plan for 2014?

Sin é.

The jobs action plan for 2014, just as its predecessor for 2013, is designed for, dedicated to and directed towards the creation of employment, including employment for young people.

It is all a dream.

Many of the jobs currently being created-----

They are in Canada or Australia.

-----in our economy are jobs that are being taken up by young people, for example, jobs in the digital sector. Many young people are employed in new types of employment being attracted into this country, including in the Dublin Docklands and in companies like PayPal in Deputy Adams' constituency. The Deputy should go and talk to those people and to others who are being employed. Many of the jobs being created in the new economy are jobs that, happily, are being taken up by young people. This is the reason the proportion of young people between 20 and 24 years of age in employment increased from 45.5% in the first half of 2012 to 47.6% in the first half of this year. This was the first increase in six years in this cohort of people taking up employment.

That said, we have a lot more to do. As I said earlier, approximately 59,000 of the people out of the workforce are under 25. We must get these people jobs or provide them with training or work experience.

The Government cut their benefits.

This is the objective of the youth guarantee and the direction of Government policy. However, we need to do more quicker. There is an urgency about this. As far as the Government is concerned, the sooner and the quicker we get young people into employment or appropriate education and training, the better. That is the direction of Government policy and the Deputy should support it.

Hear, hear.