Ireland has seen the fastest growth in youth unemployment in the history of the State since Fianna Fáil and the Greens took power after the last general election, Fine Gael Innovation Spokeswoman Deirdre Clune TD has warned.

Figures released by the CSO (pdf 102kb) show that youth unemployment has jumped by 170.9% in the last two years. In June 2007, just two years ago, 33,872 people under the age of 25 were on the Live Register. This had increased to 91,755 by June 2009.

This represents some 57,833 young people joining the live register in the last 24 months. The devastating effect this is having on these young people and their families cannot be displayed in figures and graphs. But it does exist, and it is being ignored.

Youth unemployment growth of 171% in this two year period has been well above the national average of 151.6%. Young people are clearly facing the brunt of the economic downturn.

To date the Fianna Fáil/Green Government has failed to provide any plan or strategy to deal with the crisis of youth unemployment. Despite the growing problem, there is no sign of anyone in Government developing any such strategy.

In the absence of any plan of its own, the Government should look to Fine Gael’s Rebuilding Ireland programme. It focuses on rebuilding core parts of our national infrastructure and generating an €11 billion stimulus plan to kick-start the Irish economy and generate 100,000 jobs over the next four years. They should also examine Fine Gael’s detailed plan to support Small & Medium Businesses which supports jobs that currently exist in this sector.