Youth Unemployment
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-15
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Louise O'Reilly (SF), Dublin Fingal West

I welcome the opportunity to have this discussion with the Minister of State. You will often hear reference made to some person, group or entity being the "canary in the coalmine". I believe that young people, when it comes to unemployment, are that canary in the coalmine. Looking at the trend, the general unemployment rate increased from 4.5% in quarter 3 of 2024 to 5.3% in quarter 3 of 2025. When you delve down into that, that is where you find the canaries, if you will. For those aged 15 to 24, which is the group known as "youth", the unemployment rate stood at 14.1% in quarter 3 of 2025, which was an 11.5% increase on quarter 3 in 2024. That is almost three times higher than the national rate. Not only is the rate higher but the rate of increase is also higher. There are 54,800 unemployed people, 9,400 of whom are classified as young people.
When we look at the trends, we see a number of things. The reason I put this Topical Issue down was because of talking to friends, family and people in my constituency. This Christmas was a very bittersweet one for many. Young people in families were having their last Christmas at home because they are going to Australia - the Minister of State will know this - Canada, Dubai and America, although fewer and fewer are going to America. They are going to places where they think they might be able to build a life or shelter from the housing crisis and perhaps come back when, under a different Government, there might be better options. I put down this Topical Issue because when I spoke to people, I was prompted to look at the statistics. 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.
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.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-15