In April, Youth Work Ireland, representatives of youth clubs in every county, met Members of the Oireachtas to raise various issues and the concerns of youth organisations. Young people are our greatest resource. There is a need at parliamentary level to recognise and acknowledge their role in a modern society.

I also wish to acknowledge the magnificent work done on behalf of young people by the officers, local organisers and voluntary helpers. Over the years, they have built up excellent services and structures in various formats throughout their communities. They have provided such vital support for our youth over several generations.

Youth clubs are crucial for character development, well-being and social inclusiveness of young people. For many years, however, they have been cash-strapped and run on a shoestring budget. They have tried to run various programmes and activities during the recession with a consequent shortage of funding. In addition, cuts to vital services in the educational system, such as the reduction of career guidance counsellors, mean that up to 200 second-level schools cannot provide one-to-one counselling as they did previously. It was a reasonably good service up to some years ago, but that has now been removed. This is one of the main reasons that 15,000 young people have dropped out of education and do not sit the leaving certificate examination. This is happening annually. The provision of career guidance in schools is inadequate and, in addition, up to 1,000 pupils are leaving the system once they complete their primary education.

I am asking the Taoiseach to provide the necessary adequate funding in the forthcoming budget to enable youth organisations to further develop activity programmes as well as enhancing facilities for our growing young population. Additional resources are also needed for the comprehensive provision of guidance counselling and learning supports for school pupils with special needs.

The Deputy's central point concerns the importance and capacity of our young people to measure up to the challenges that are undoubtedly coming. Corporation tax has been a cornerstone of foreign direct investment here, from whatever country, as well as issues including technology and the track record of our people. By far the most important issue is the talent pool of young people coming through. That is a combination coming out of the secondary system and engaging with business, institutes of technology or universities. Firms and investors look at the range of talent of young Irish people who measure up to the highest standards. I have seen evidence of this in talking to people about challenges in the software, pharma, robotics and electronic engineering sectors. Young Irish people have introduced innovative changes that affect businesses in so many ways.

The Deputy also referred to youth services, which are a matter for consideration by Ministers as they prepare for October's budget. I recently met with representatives of Foróige and have seen the extraordinary work they have done over so many years. It is true that there have been reductions in the allocation to youth organisations as part of the overall cutbacks that applied for a number of years due to the economic situation. Clearly, these are cases that can and will be made in preparing for the budget in future.

The Deputy mentioned career guidance teachers. As he knows, for some time secondary schools have been demanding greater independence in this regard. The decision by the previous Minister for Education and Skills was made in light of that. One must consider that the vast majority of people to be employed in the next ten years will be engaged by companies that have not yet been established and whose products have not been progressed beyond a concept. The world ahead is changing rapidly. Teachers now need to be more than just deliverers of information because all that information - perhaps too much of it - is available to young people anyway in multitudinous forms. They must therefore decide and define what the priorities are and what is really important.

Give them back their career guidance counsellors.

The Minister for Education and Skills told the Cabinet this morning that the allocation will be made shortly for special needs and resource teachers at a high level. That announcement is normally made at this time of year, and she will make it shortly. That is designed and put in place so that young people who need particular attention will continue to get it. In addition, cases as yet undefined or which have not been brought to the attention of school authorities, will also have access to it. That announcement will be made shortly.

I endorse the Taoiseach's statement regarding the high calibre of youth coming out of third level education. This is helpful in attracting foreign direct investment. There is another aspect, however. It has recently been ascertained that 2,000 students drop out of secondary education after just two years, which is alarming. It is something we will have to address. One in five students in the 13 to 15-year-old age group are disengaging from education, so there is a need for corrective action to halt this worrying trend.

Germany and some other continental countries have a scheme to identify problems facing students in the first and second years of secondary education. Such students can be diverted to training centres to undertake trade apprenticeships while continuing their school education part-time. The system operates for students who cannot adapt to full-time academic pursuits. In that way, at 18 years of age, they are trained and available for employers who are seeking such people for the job market. It is a good example of where Ireland should also be going in order to remedy this situation, particularly as our youth unemployment is exceedingly high. It is currently one of the highest in Europe and has been for some time.

I commend the appointment of the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, to the Department of Health with responsibility for drugs. There is a need for a greater awareness of drug abuse across all age groups, but in particular for our youth. Kerry Life Education is providing a mobile unit in the county to promote awareness of drug misuse. The group's professional staff are doing Trojan work in this regard.

In addition, the Kerry diocesan youth services have a mobile unit which visits all corners of the region. It is essential to bring such technological facilities to remote areas. The services provided by such mobile units could be replicated around the country. I ask the Government to provide the necessary support to enable all these organisations to continue operating.

I hope the Cabinet, specifically the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy James Reilly, will approve the necessary funding in the budget.

The Minister of State, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, knows about it.

Jimmy knows about it.

Wanderly Wagon.

The mandate of the Government was to fix the public finances and get the country back to work. Restructuring and recapitalisation of the banks were not done for their comfort but for the comfort of consumers and customers. What are parents worried about for their children? They are worried about obesity, bullying, including cyberbullying, and what is being watched on tablets or mobile phones. They are worried about the relationships people may have and how they may go in the wrong way.

How about putting a roof over their heads?

They are worried about putting food on the table and housing.

These are the issues that concern parents, rightly so. All of this relates to a sense of place, community and citizenship. It is important that young people have this understanding and involvement from a very early age. It is true that most investors and people who look at Ireland from abroad comment on the calibre and quality of our young people. Everybody cannot be a PhD or a master's degree student or be in the top percentile in engineering or other sectors.

That is certainly true.

Some young people who leave secondary school have had a tendency to remain in receipt of unemployment assistance for many years.

A tendency.

Come off it.

That is why the Government introduced and has funded SOLAS to have a much more vigorous and appropriate involvement in training, apprenticeships and upskilling for work.

Is there a tendency to be unemployed?

That is outrageous.

It is more Michael Noonan stuff.

Are young people lazy now? Do they not want to work?

This is very important. That is why we have Intreo and the JobBridge and JobsPlus programmes, as well as a new focus on the long-term unemployed.

That is why the Government cut the jobseeker's allowance.

This is Deputy Tom Fleming's question. There should be order.

Hide them from the live register.

The Taoiseach is broadening the point.

That is why the Department directly funds employers-----

The Taoiseach does not have to live on €100 per week.

-----which take on somebody who has been unemployed for more than 12 months to the tune of €7,500, or €10,000 for somebody who has been out of work for two years.

What is the Taoiseach reading?

In that sense, the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, is working with the new apprenticeship council to have a much more flexible method of dealing with the requirements of employers. It is easier to set up companies and there is far greater access to credit than ever before. There is a need to be more flexible. The Minister of State is working on that issue in a very committed fashion because employers are looking for X number of skilled people but cannot find them and must thus look abroad.

The Taoiseach said this 12 months ago.

We should be far more flexible in training people who can meet these demands.

Why is that not happening?

What about Tús schemes and the JobBridge programme?

That is the essence of what SOLAS is at and the work of the apprenticeship council.

The Taoiseach is talking as if he was in opposition.

Perhaps the Government might be more flexible.

There is also the involvement of Intreo offices which make an appropriate profile of a person's background, opportunities and motivation.

Profile.

The Taoiseach should have watched Deputy Halligan last night.

They take into account the wishes of the people concerned.

Has the Taoiseach been watching "NCIS" on television? It includes profiling.

Instead of the unemployment list, the live register, being seen as a lengthy list of people with no future, it should be seen as offering potential for employers to train and upskill, with people being able to learn computer and language skills, trades, crafts, etc.

Why is it not funded?

By 2018 I expect us to be very close to full employment.

The focus group reports are coming in.

There will be jobs for young people in their own country. Sustainable jobs are the best route out of disillusionment and poverty.

The Taoiseach should read the front page of the Irish Examiner.

Work should be seen to pay. People should be given that opportunity.