Cork TD, Ken O’Flynn, has hit out at Fine Gael leader Simon Harris for his take on the dole as a “way of life”, saying that youth unemployment was “three time the rate of everyone else” and that the government needed to do more to assist youth people find work.
At Fine Gael’s Ard Fheis in Cork on Saturday evening, Simon Harris told party delegates: “The dole is a safety net, not a way of life” and that anyone who can work should contribute.
His words were met with loud applause from Fine Gael delegates.
But Ken O’Flynn said that Harris’s statement needed to take into account that “youth unemployment is 11.5%, three times the rate for everyone else. Young people want work. They want a trade. Too many are left waiting. Less lecturing. More doors opened.”
Last week, the Central Statistics Office showed that while unemployment in Ireland remained stood at 4.8% in October, with any rate below 5% seen as full employment, the youth unemployment rate was 11.5 per cent, up from a revised rate of 11.4 per cent in September.
The National Youth Council of Ireland has said that “despite near-full employment, many young people are facing sub-minimum wages, unaffordable housing, social exclusion and continued pressure to emigrate.”
“A job should offer young people the chance to build an independent life and a secure future, but for too many that is not the reality,” Kathryn Walsh, Director of Policy and Advocacy at NYCI said. “Young people need a shift in policy from just labour market activation to engagement, progression and prosperity.”
Other reactions to Tánaiste Harris’s statement pointed to the fact that Fine Gael have been in government for a lengthy period of time. “Harris talks about ending long term unemployment. If only he was in government,” Aontú leader, Peadar Tóibín, wrote on X.
However, the Tánaiste defended his comments on RTÉ’s This Week in Politics programme, saying his position was “what a sensible government should be doing”.
He hit out at Labour’s criticisms saying that when their Minister, Joan Burton, was in charge of Social Protection in 2011 she said people shouldn’t be allowed drift into a lifetime on social welfare.
“Performative politics is coming from some of the opposition parties who criticised my remarks while having introduced penalties in this area when they were actually in government,” he said.
“We’re not talking about a person who’s getting a disability payment, or an older person or a carer,” Harris said. “We’re talking about people who are fit to work, and we need to work with them to make sure they can make a positive contribution in this country.”