Youth Unemployment
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-26
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

I will certainly provide that information to the Deputy. The range of supports that Intreo advisers use includes Springboard+ and identifying Springboard+ opportunities. It provides free and sometimes heavily subsidised education for in-demand skill areas. We can match courses to people's skills and abilities.
SOLAS continues to provide focused training programmes. There is also the work placement experience programme. With the back-to-work enterprise scheme allowance, I am encouraging people to set up their own businesses. That is something I am very passionate about. I will be asking the Department to focus on supporting people through the journey of setting up their own businesses, giving people options and, most importantly, providing the supports to go through that. We also have the short-term enterprise allowance.
There is a range of schemes there. I will engage with the National Youth Council of Ireland about how we package those schemes in a way that can be understood, and understand how they are relevant to the current demands of the labour market and the pressures that are on people. I will come back to the Deputy about underemployment.

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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