Louise O'Reilly
Dublin Fingal West · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I welcome this debate this afternoon and am happy to be able to make a small contribution to it. I grew up in a Border town. I ended up in that town because my father was a trade union organiser who represented workers on both sides of the Border for a long number of years and, in fact, went on to be based in the North for a long time.”
“I am fortunate enough to represent a constituency that is very firmly in the Dublin–Belfast economic corridor. Before partition, as we know, Belfast was a thriving industrial powerhouse. Partition put a lid on the potential of that city to grow and flourish.”
“When we talk about Irish unity, we should frame that discussion as one about potential for growth, the potential for all-Ireland working and all-Ireland business. Between Belfast and Dublin, there are five universities, numerous colleges of further education and training, and businesses that are ready to scale up.”
“As the debate on Irish unity advances, and it is advancing despite what some of the people opposite would like to happen, we need to frame that discussion in a positive way. We need to look clearly for those opportunities while acknowledging the challenges. We are not blind to the challenges.”
“If her letter does not have any impact - let us be honest; it has not had any impact - the Minister of State might outline what he will do that might go a bit further than writing a letter. We know that devices are essential. We know that parents want their kids to be able to participate.”
“I thank the Deputies for bringing forward this motion. I was chatting to my dad as I was coming in and told him I would be debating this motion in relation to supports for parents this morning. He reminded me, of course, that it was the Labour Party in government that cut those very supports.”
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“It is very clear in the Minister of State's script, which he diligently read out and every word of which he stuck to, that there will be no living wage. What is the living wage? It is the minimum amount that a person needs to live on. That is the living wage and that is gone. The Government just sanctioned a fairly hefty pay increase for the head of Uisce Éireann. He is nowhere near the living wage and he is still getting an increase. He could not spend in ten lifetimes all the money that he has. He will get a pay increase but people who are on the minimum wage have to be content with those sustainable increases, as the Government referred to them. The Minister of State also did not address the unaffordable cost of childcare because, again, that is one of those things those in government say when they are running for election.”
“In fact, they are running behind just trying frantically to catch up. The Minister of State also confirmed that this Government has completely abandoned the living wage. It talked a lot about it but then when I thought about it, I asked myself when it was that the Government talked about it. Yes - it was just before the election. The same as all of its pre-election promises, like snow on a ditch, it is gone. There is no living wage for workers. It has been pushed right out, way beyond the term of this Government. In fact, there is arrogance in this Government's claim that it will somehow be re-elected and that at some point, we will get the sunny uplands of the living wage. Nobody is fooled by that, by the way.”
“As others have, I want to express my sincere condolences to those impacted by the serious tragedy on Talbot Street. I also want to say a word to commend the emergency services. They never know what they are going to see when they come into work in the morning but they still turn up, so they deserve all of our thanks. I want to address some of the remarks made by the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, in his opening statement. Some of this stuff would be funny if it was not so serious. He referenced "sustainable" increases in the minimum wage. Sustainable for who exactly? Sustainable for employers, perhaps, or sustainable for business because it sure as Jesus is not sustainable for workers living on the minimum wage. Their wages are not going up anywhere near as fast as food or energy inflation.”
“She asked me what this law was for and who it will benefit. I gave her an honest answer, as the Minister would expect me to, which was to say it will certainly not benefit renters; it will benefit large-scale landlords and vulture funds. She asked me why. I genuinely could not answer. I hope the Minister makes that clear because she watches the proceedings in here and, given her own situation, she is worried and anxious. As this legislation goes through, there is no comfort I can give her unless the Minister has some words of comfort to offer her, which I doubt.”
“I spoke to a family recently who have just been taken off the housing list because they are slightly over the income limit. The reason they are slightly over the income limit is because they have been waiting for social housing for so long that their children have grown up to the point where two of them now have part-time work that has pushed the family income over the limit. They pay for the rent themselves; they do not get HAP or any other assistance. They are private renters. They now have a notice to quit and they see the impact of this. Renting is already tough. They cannot find anywhere to rent as it is. They are going to have to leave their property and now they are facing having to pay even higher rents. When this legislation goes through, it will push the rent up even more. I spoke to the mam. She was in tears.”
“They call into my offices, they ring the office and they contact us by email. The Government rep in my area is clever enough now. She has no office and nobody can find her. We are thankfully Fianna Fáil-free, as it goes. When people contact me - and they do - they are really nervous. They hear what the Minister says about the impact of his legislation and they see that it does not bother him. It should but it appears not to. When they come to the office they want an answer in terms of how they are going to be able to afford somewhere to live into the future and I cannot give them one. They are waiting 14 years on the social housing list as it stands. People's entire lives are going to be on hold and the Government's big idea appears to be to put rents up. I genuinely cannot fathom it.”
“The people I represent in Dublin Fingal West are already paying huge rents, with an average cost of close to €2,500 per month. A person on an ordinary wage is at nothing and has no hope of being able to rent. I am genuinely struggling to understand the logic of this Bill. The Minister has said openly that it will cause the cost of renting to increase. Any reasonable person would agree that rents in this State are too high. Perhaps the Minister disagrees but I would contend they are far too high as it is. This legislation will put them up even more. The impact of the Bill will just be to crease people who simply do not have the money to pay more, all for the crime of wanting and needing somewhere to live. I have been contacted about this by a large number of constituents.”
“The Tánaiste will be well aware of the waiting lists to see doctors and every other medical professional. When they do fill out and submit the form, it is now taking 16 months, nearly a year and a half, to get that assessment done. By any measure, that is too long. I am inundated in my offices in Balbriggan and Rush with people and all they are looking for is an update. They want to know if anyone has looked at their medical priority and if it is going to be considered at all. It is not the case that the waiting times are this long in every other local authority. I ask the Tánaiste to investigate this and find out if the source of the issue is resources or what the blockage is. It is unacceptable and I am sure the Tánaiste will agree with me that people should not have to wait between 14 and 18 months.”
“The people in my constituency of Dublin Fingal West wait for up to 14 years in most cases on the Fingal County Council housing list. Some of them are left waiting in overcrowded accommodation, some of them in emergency accommodation, some of them paying eye-wateringly high rents. When a person has a medical condition or a disability, this is often made worse by their housing situation, as I am sure the Tánaiste can appreciate, so they can apply for assessment for medical priority. It takes an awful lot to fill out the HMD 1 form and, in fact, I am told on a very regular basis now that GPs are refusing to fill it out for medical card patients. That is something that should definitely be looked at. When they fill out that form, and it is hard to fill it out, they have to wait.”
“When times were very hard people, particularly in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn and Storm Chandra, they went to their community centre as a beacon. We do not want the lights not being able to be turned on there.”
“Can I be a bit a cheeky and hijack my own time for a moment to remind the Minister of State that he promised me he would visit Foróige in Balbriggan? I will follow up with him again after this. I understand the Minister of State is listening and hears what is being said. What I am trying to find out is how that is going to manifest itself in terms of money so that the community centres can be sure they are going to be in a position to be able to pay their energy bills. The fear many of them have is that they are not going to be in a position to fund because energy costs have risen. They are not coming down. Even if the pace of increase has slowed a small bit, they have not come down. For very many, they are unaffordable.”
“In some instances, they were not sufficiently staffed to be able to respond. They are now having to cope with the energy bills. There is a huge increase in energy. The money available is not matching that level of increase.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response. The purpose of the question was to try to isolate those specific funding streams separate from grants that will contribute towards the physical running. The Minister of State is right that they are in the main run by volunteer boards. However, they are employers as well. It makes things very tricky. There have been welcome increases in the minimum wage. That has a knock-on consequence for other people who are working. Costs like energy in particular are rising. What we saw in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn and Storm Chandra was how badly exposed some, although not all, community centres were. They are a bit of a beacon in the community. People think when everything is gone they will head to the community centre and it is like a hub.”
“This is a fairly straightforward question with which he will be familiar. I am seeking to understand and to get some information from the Minister of State in relation to those non-capital grants. We understand the capital grants and the schemes but I ask about the actual level of funding that is available to cover those costs, such as energy, insurance, staffing, etc. This relates to the stream of funding that will go beyond the capital grants.”
“How in the name of God can the man who imports beef that falls well short of the standards of Irish beef have people’s confidence when he is importing Brazilian beef and undermining the standards that he is telling all the others in the farming community they must uphold? This is, again, another lesson learnt from this Government - it is, “Do as I say but not as I do”. If Larry Murrin understood the damage that this scandal has caused to Irish farmers, he would do the right thing and resign, but he is digging in so the Minister has to do his job. Larry Murrin’s position is untenable. He must go. The Minister must do the right thing and remove him.”
“How can he have any hand, act or part in the importation of Brazilian beef while pretending that he can police and uphold standards for Irish farmers? I do not know an awful lot about farming and I do not pretend to but by Jesus, I know Government hypocrisy when I see it, and that is what is on display here this evening. I am a consumer. I spoke to my constituents over the weekend about this motion and they all said the same thing to me. They said that we need to have confidence and Bord Bia should be the symbol for that. While the Government digs in and defends its man at all costs, that confidence is just not there. Consumers deserve to have confidence in the food they buy.”
“The Minister said in his script that he believes tonight’s motions sends a clear message to the chairs of every other State board in the country as to how Sinn Féin rolls, and it does indeed. It tells them that accountability is important to Sinn Féin. Even if it does not matter to this Government, it will always matter to us. The failure of the chair of Bord Bia to read the room and resign raises serious questions about accountability. I have said it before and I will say it here again tonight: this Government is allergic to accountability. This latest fiasco is just another example of that. Larry Murrin is the figurehead for quality in Irish food. He and Bord Bia are responsible for ensuring that quality standards for Irish food are upheld. How can he continue in his role when trust has been broken?”
“That is not alarmist language; that is a fact for people with disabilities. That is how they live their lives. Every single day is a battle. They want the Government to stand up and be on their side. I urge the Minister to support his motion and withdraw his shameful amendment.”
“They are real choices that real people have to make in the here and now. The Minister said in his contribution that we should be extremely careful about alarmist language and that we should not be putting out a misleading and dangerous message that people must choose between food and heating. Those are not my words; those are the words of people with disabilities. They have told us and have told him, if he was willing to listen, that those are the choices that they have to make. Do they want to be in that position? No. Do they want to be in the audiovisual room having to talk about the intimate details of their lives? No. They want to be getting on with living their lives but for them living their lives involves making a choice, in some instances, between heating and eating.”
“These are people who fight every single day of the week for every shilling, every cent and every tiny little bit of support. These are fighters because the system has made them into fighters. They and their advocates are powerful representatives and they should be listened to. The Minister and his Government talk a lot. We have Cabinet committees, task force reports, etc., but they are light on action. I would have thought that the very least that a decent Government would do in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis is not make things worse for people. Yet, people with disabilities find themselves €1,400 worse off as a direct consequence of the budget. They do make the choice about heating or eating and to charge their mobility or medical devices or pay for their groceries.”
“I want to start by thanking the Deputies for bringing forward this motion this morning and giving us a chance to have this important discussion. I want to state, as I have done previously, that disabled people are not disabled by their own bodies, their own neurodiversity or their own intellectual capacity. They are disabled by society - a society that puts barriers in their way to access work, supports and even something simple like public transport. Disabled people face hurdles that able-bodied people could not even begin to imagine. Fair play to disabled people and their advocates because they are getting themselves organised. They are putting themselves onto the agenda and are making their voices heard. They are a powerful lobby.”
“She was absolutely petrified as any mother would be so she took the only option open to her and brought her son to accident and emergency in Beaumont Hospital. They sat there for nine hours. When I tell the Minister of State that this contributed to making that young man's mental ill health worse, it really did. He entered in crisis and came out even worse with a letter that was completely meaningless. It was a referral to CAMHS for an appointment he may never get. He will be aged out before it even happens. I ask the Minister of State to not just support this motion act but to act on it.”
“I represented psychiatric nurses in 2006 when A Vision for Change was launched. There was no place for people in mental health distress then but the Minister of State, her Government and previous Governments have ensured that what was deemed to be a crisis in 2006 is now even beyond that. Accident and emergency is no place for a person who needs psychiatric care. It is no place for him or her and yet that is where he or she ends up. The Minister of State knows that this is where he or she is going to end up because there is no other door. I have heard her talk about the Government's "no wrong door" policy. There is no door - only accident and emergency - and that is where these people have to go. I spoke to a woman in my constituency last week whose son was experiencing suicidal ideation.”
“The Minister of State knows what accident and emergency departments are like. I am sure she has been in them. The nurses who spend a lot of their time training and engaging in continuous professional development are forced to nurse patients in conditions that when I describe them as being slightly less than ideal, I am being very kind to the Government. The Minister of State knows what accident and emergency is like. It is chaotic and noisy and there are bright lights and a lot of activity. It is hard for people who really need to be in accident and emergency to visit an accident and emergency department. It is so tough for the healthcare workers - our nurses and our doctors trying to do their best in a system that is overcrowded with nurses forced to nurse people on chairs or on trolleys who are waiting, waiting and waiting for a bed.”
“Time and again, we see children slide down the Government's agenda. As I said, I hope the Minister will be - I know she should be - the person who champions the cause of children in poverty and is their voice at the Cabinet table because they do not seem to have much of a voice within the Government.”
“The statistics also do not lie; they give the full picture of what happens behind closed doors for many children. We hear from parents who skip meals to ensure their children can be fed. We hear they delay paying bills and put themselves into debt just to ensure their children can get the basics, and very often the State is found wanting. The statistics on child poverty show that it is increasing at an alarming rate. They tell a tale of how children are treated. It is evident at every age and stage of a child's life. It can be seen right through from childbirth. The much vaunted and long promised €200 per week childcare vanished like snow off a ditch the minute the election posters were taken down. I fear, as the Government has stopped talking about it, that we are even further away from that commitment that was given.”
“Those children need and deserve to have a champion at the Cabinet table. They need someone to speak up for them. They do not often have a voice. Their parents are struggling to get to the end of the week or the end of the day and very often they do not have the capacity to advocate, so it falls to politicians and the Minister as the lead on this. The buck stops with her. When the number of children in poverty in this State is rising at the rate it is, it is fair to say that children are not a priority for the Government. They should be. As my colleagues outlined, we welcome the legislation and the chance to have a discussion about children and their needs. Often when we discuss children's needs here, it is under the heading of unmet needs. It is rare we have a chance to discuss anything else. That says where the issues are.”
“I had not intended to speak. I thought I would be speaking on Thursday. I welcome the legislation but while the Minister is here, I remind her of the commitment given to provide childcare, which is far from being delivered. It is true to say that this State lets children down. The poverty figures prove this. The number of children in enduring and consistent poverty is still rising and that is down to Government policy. It is very good to talk about child protection and about reform and enhancing the role of the State in child protection, but the statistics tell us this is simply not a priority for the Government. I urge the Minister to try to put children at the centre of Government policy, specifically issues of child welfare and neglect and children living in consistent and enduring poverty.”
“For those who do not commute by car, they get on overcrowded trains or stand and wait for buses, "ghost buses" as we call them, that sometimes do not arrive. It is past time for the environment, workers, work-life balance, productivity, communities and families that proper consideration is given to workers having the right to remotely work. Workers are not stupid. The same as me and the Minister of State, they know what works for them. They want to do well in their work and they know they can do that by working remotely.”
“It really works for people. I have seen it in workplaces, as a representative and as a trade union official. However, at the time, when we were processing that claim, there was something of a paternalistic attitude applied to the workers. It was almost as if remote working was a treat or a favour the boss might give you if you were perhaps good enough but one that could be withdrawn at any moment and have the capacity to upend your family and work-life balance. It is shocking that the attitude displayed 25 years ago is still in vogue today with this Government. There were nearly 6,000 incidents on the M50 in 2025, almost 800 of those being car crashes. That is nearly two a day. Some 60% of people in my town of Skerries commute by car. They have absolutely no choice.”
“I thank the Deputies for bringing the motion forward this morning and giving us the chance to have this debate. Nearly 25 years ago, as a shop steward, I processed my first claim for what was called at that stage, "teleworking." It then went on to become "e-working" and now we refer to it as "remote working". It is not new and certainly was not invented in the past while. It most definitely was not invented by the Minister of State's former colleague, Leo Varadkar, despite his claims to the contrary at times.”
“Let us send a message to young people, to their parents and to our communities that we take this issue seriously and that the Government is willing to take action on it. I urge the Minister to withdraw his amendment.”
“I commend Deputy Ward on the work he has done not just on this legislation but in this area generally. It is incredibly worthwhile work but it all points in the one direction, as the Minister knows. It points in the direction of us taking action. We know what the harms are. We know that young people are taking this as a cheap alternative to alcohol. We know that, in many cases, they are not aware of the potential damage. We know that the potential for damage is huge. There is only one way to deal with this and that is through regulation. That should be done today. The Minister knows well that legislation does not pass in the blink of an eye. It takes time. If there are issues with the legislation, the Minister should work with Deputy Ward to figure those out. Let us do the pre-legislative scrutiny and get this legislation passed.”
“The problem is growing because nitrous oxide is freely available. The people who make it and the people who sell it are far ahead of the Government and moving much faster. They are already latching onto flavours, they have colourful packaging and they are heavily marketing this to children and yet the Minister says that action can wait. That does not make any sense. There is not a town or a village in my constituency or any other constituency that has not seen the upsurge in these cans. You can see the canisters lying around. You see them lying around in the evenings. If the Minister does not believe me, he can talk to his local Tidy Towns group. They will tell him the same. It is everywhere. The reason it is everywhere and the reason it is growing is that it is freely available and unregulated. That is on the Government.”
“The harms from using nitrous oxide are very well known. I do not think the Minister will dispute any of the information that Deputy Ward has provided. There is not a TD in the Dáil who does not want to ensure that this drug is kept from destroying another young life. We are all in agreement on that. I am mystified as to why the Minister wants to kick this down the road given that we all agree that action is needed. The Minister and the Government say they want to take action but, for some bizarre reason, they just do not want to act now. Will the Minister make that make sense for me? Figures from the HSE tell us that taking action on nitrous oxide cannot wait. The 175% increase in the numbers attending the adolescent addiction services who have taken nitrous oxide tell us that this is a growing problem.”
“She would ask me when is the Minister bringing his war on dereliction to the people of Balbriggan. It is possibly 2027 or maybe 2028. Jesus Christ. Regarding the mental ill health that people suffer from living in overcrowded accommodation, imagine listening to the Minister. There is no sense of urgency coming from him at all. He had a few potshots at the Opposition and that is fine. It a bit of ding-dong and back and forth. He did not offer anything that tells me that he believes or understands that there is a crisis now. There are people who are making shed loads of money out of this crisis. The Ministers knows that there are people making shed loads of money and he is okay with that. Shame on him.”
“However, if he was serious about it, he would be talking to Deputies Gould and Ó Broin and other people on the Opposition benches and on his own benches. He would try everything and anything if he was serious about tackling the scourge of dereliction. Does the Minister not see how inadequate is his proposal that we wait until 2027 or 2028 until money starts coming in or maybe even after that? Does he not understand? What if a person like that mam was looking in here - I told her that we would be having a debate today so she might be watching and I certainly will tell her to look back on the debate - was to hear him talking about his war on dereliction? She would ask me what does the war on dereliction mean and when is the war coming to Balbriggan.”
“He says he thinks it should be crime. He is in the Government for Jesus's sake. If he wanted it to be a crime, he would be talking to the Minister for justice but he does not. That is just something that he says. He says that he wants it to be crime. It is not. He is in the Government. Any Government that has presided over 17,000 homeless people is clearly not pulling every single lever and is not talking to every single Member of the Opposition and the Government for ideas because clearly, the Minister does not have any. What he has tried has not worked. He could not come in here and claim to be a success story. I am sure he would not. I am sure he is ashamed. I am sure that when he goes home and thinks about those 17,000 people, including 6,000 children, he is a little bit ashamed.”
“The claim he is going to war on dereliction would be funny if it was not so bloody serious. He is not fighting for ordinary people in his war. He is fighting against ordinary people in his war. He is not fighting for people who need somewhere to live in his war. He is fighting against those people but he is prepared to put up a fairly substantial fight to ensure that any levies that are collected will not be collected this year or next year and possibly will not be collected the year after that. All of that can wait. Meanwhile, people who have nowhere to live, are living in overcrowded accommodation, emergency accommodation, hubs or hostels and who cannot start their lives look at vacant and derelict houses and buildings and ask themselves a simple question, "How is that allowed to happen?" It is because the Minister facilitates it.”
“There is no urgency to turn that into a home for her daughter and four children who are in one room, that is, a mam and four kids in one small bedroom. She looked at that derelict house and had a very simple question as to why that house was still derelict. She asked why she had to walk past that when she goes to work every single day when she knows it would be perfect for her daughter and her daughter would keep it well. Her neighbours ask the same questions such as why there are rats running in and out of that house and why that house is derelict in the middle of a housing crisis. Why is that, when the Minister says he is going to war on dereliction? Going to war, is it? It does not feel like he is going to war. It feels like he is quite all right with dereliction and thinks it is okay because it can wait.”
“There will be kids messing in it and broken windows. All of those things happen. It is then left there for years. I had a woman in my clinic on Monday who lives in a small three-bedroom house in Balbriggan. It is herself, her husband, her daughter, their four children and two sons, one of whom has a partner and another who has occasional access to his child. That is ten, 11, 12 and sometimes 13 people living in a small modest house. She asked me a fairly simple question as to why there was a boarded-up house down the road from her. She named the number and has been onto the council plenty of times about it. What is the answer? Government policy is that is fine and that there is no urgency to get rid of that boarded-up house.”
“It means that you can build every other aspect of your life. Yet, there are thousands and thousands of people who do not have somewhere secure to live. They cannot start a family. They cannot build their lives. They cannot get their career going. They are stuck. They are stuck in their ma's back bedroom. They are stuck in overcrowded accommodation. They are stuck sofa surfing or they are saving for a one-way ticket to Australia. The Minister said himself that dereliction is a form of antisocial behaviour. It causes antisocial behaviour. It causes dumping. If a person is living in an estate where there is a derelict house - I doubt there are too many of them in the leafy suburbs surrounding here but there are plenty in the area that I represent - as sure as night follows day there will be black bags in the front garden.”
“He should reflect on where we are because he has been in some form of government - confidence and supply and all the rest of it - for ten years. In those ten years, we have seen so many lives destroyed by the Government's housing crisis. The housing crisis has been created by Government policy. It has not been solved by Government policy and I am sure not even the Minister would be arrogant enough to try to claim that. Of course, it has got worse. Numbers and facts do not lie. The Minister certainly could not come in here and claim to have any achievements in the area of housing while there are 17,000 people in emergency accommodation. The Minister and I both know that is an underestimation of the actual number of people who do not have somewhere secure to live. As we all know, somewhere secure to live is so important.”
“I am also struggling to understand the reluctance to enact this sensible legislation, which, as has been outlined already, will not fix all of the problems the Government has created and the disaster it has made of housing, but will make a contribution. In truth, if the Minister was interested in solving the problem of dereliction, he would be listening to Deputy Gould and working with Deputy Gould but he is not. His script, as he read it out to us this evening, tells me exactly that. There is a level of arrogance there that I do not think belongs in the mouth of a person who has presided over 17,000 homeless people, 6,000 of whom are children. A little bit of humility might go a long way. I understand that is not necessarily how he wants to be.”
“I want to start by thanking Deputy Gould and his office for bringing forward this legislation and for all of the work they do and continue to do on this serious issue. When people look in at the proceedings of the Dáil, at least they see that some people are interested in taking action on dereliction. They also see the Government and its complete lack of interest in it. I am struggling a little to understand what point the Minister is trying to make. On the one hand he told us that the legislation that exists is good and is fit for purpose. On the other hand he tells us that we all have to wait because the Government is bringing in new legislation.”
“What we see as part of the trend within the general unemployment figures is something that should be concerning, and no more than that. I think it bears more examination and that piece of research into those labour market conditions and the factors driving that faster rate of increase would be useful.”
“When I say the canaries in the coalmine that is what I mean. It is worth looking at that. The Minister of State will not find anyone on the Sinn Féin benches objecting to a body of work in that regard. He knows that we will work with him. The first thing that needs to happen is research into those labour market conditions. A job is one thing but a job that can sustain you and you can live on is very much another thing. The Minister of State knows what the rental rates are like. Notwithstanding the fact that they might be high in Melbourne, young people are still going there in large numbers. They are going in numbers that are bigger than have ever been seen before. I think the year before last, 22,000 visas were issued for Australia alone.”
“The Minister of State said he thinks we would all agree that it is not unusual for youth employment rates to be higher than those of older cohorts. I respectfully disagree with him. Dr. Elish Kelly from the ESRI has described the youth unemployment rate as it currently stands as a worrying trend because when you look at that age profile the chances are that they have lower levels of education and attainment. They are more likely to be employed on temporary-type contracts and in more vulnerable sectors that are often the first to let people go when the economy takes a turn. The ESRI would challenge the Minister of State's view that it is not unusual. I am pointing it out to him simply because within the overall trend not only is it ahead of the general unemployment rate but it is rising at a faster rate.”
“The Minister of State has heard it said, and it has been said to me by young people, that this generation of younger people coming through will be the first to face a worse standard of living than their parents. You can see it. People are not able to buy their own house. The average age at which people can afford to purchase a house has gone up almost to age 40. That was certainly not the case when I was younger. All of these factors point in the direction of a need for specific research and specific targeting for this group of people. They are not necessarily the same as the general population of unemployed persons, so they need that bespoke research and a targeted plan of action.”
“The statistics bear out what I am saying, which is that while the general rate of unemployment is low, although the trend is going slowly upwards, for young people the trend is going upwards at a much faster rate. They are proportionately representing a larger group. Young people face a lot of challenges. They are already subject to subminimum rates of pay, which is something the Government could change by way of legislation, and are at the business end of the housing crisis. What is needed is specific research into those labour market conditions that are being faced by young people. It is only by conducting the research into those labour market conditions that the Government can get the accurate picture and from that come up with a strategy to address it.”