by Alan Jacques
THE Government has failed 1,882 young people in Limerick city and county who are currently unemployed.
This is the view of the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) who have expressed disappointment that the Government has failed to reverse the cuts to jobseekers allowance for those under 26 in Budget 2016.
NYCI represents youth groups working with over 380,000 young people throughout the country.
And while NYCI deputy director James Doorley welcomed the recent decline in youth unemployment, he pointed out that there are still 40,000 young people on the Live Register. Over 18,000 have been unemployed for a year or more and in Limerick alone there are 1,882 young jobseekers.
NYCI had proposed the restoration of the full adult rate of €188 for jobseekers under 26 who participate in initiatives such as the Back to Education Scheme, SOLAS funded training and JobBridge.
“This would have provided more support to young people moving into education, training and work experience. We are also concerned that there was no additional funding to implement the Youth Guarantee in 2016,” said Mr Doorley.
“While we welcome measures such as the increase in the minimum wage and reductions in the USC, it is extremely disappointing to see the lack of action regarding young jobseekers. We were told that this budget was about “all sharing in the recovery”, however for young jobseekers this is clearly not the case,” he concluded.
