Mairead McGuinness Fine Gael MEP

Ireland’s youth unemployment rate of almost 30% is to be the target of a European Commission action team travelling to Ireland today to explore how unspent EU structural funds could be used to address the issue, Mairead McGuinness, Ireland East Fine Gael MEP has said.

“Given that many of these young people worked in sectors such construction, manufacturing, retail and wholesale, to a large extent their skills do not match the current needs of the marketplace.

“The Commission will be looking at a whole range of options, including, career guidance, re-training measures, enhanced cooperation with the social partners and labour market stakeholders preventing early school leaving or supporting self-employment. They will also be looking at more apprenticeships and traineeships with a view to the short to medium term,” she said.

McGuinness said the team will also be looking at measures to assist small and medium sized enterprises. She said the Commission team will work with national counterparts to develop plans to be submitted to the Commission in mid-April.

Speaking to Young Fine Gael in Tullamore at the weekend, McGuinness said economic mismanagement of the past has left young people carrying the can.

“The language of political debate and discussion at EU level has centred on debt reduction and austerity programmes until recent days. But in the European Parliament, the debate has shifted to that of jobs and growth with a real focus on youth unemployment.

“ The problems of the euro zone and the EU have not gone away, but there is a growing political acceptance that the medicine of austerity alone will not cure the problems and in fact could exacerbate our difficulties.

“We risk losing the support of citizens in these one-sided measures, where they cannot see a better future. There is also a real risk that support for the EU will wane with an increasingly anti-EU sentiment. It is time to change tack and do so rapidly,” she warned.