Youth Unemployment
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-26
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Louise O'Reilly (SF), Dublin Fingal West

That will be welcome. A number of factors need to be considered. I welcome the fact that the Minister is concerned because I am, too. I feel that when we are both concerned about something, we might be able to do something about it, which would be good.
I welcome publication of the report into AI. However, there is an issue. Youth unemployment is rising at a faster rate than that of the general population. Therefrom comes both of our concerns. What is needed is a bespoke programme for younger people. We are heading into a period where we may experience some unemployment. I feel that now is the time to get ready for that, with the specific needs of younger people in mind, and acknowledge, as the National Youth Council of Ireland has pointed out, the bottleneck that exists whereby people are unable to move on to more fulfilling or different jobs.
The other issue is that of underemployment. A lot of younger people who are working have the capacity to work more but cannot get that work.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:42+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-26