Agenda
9.30 Registration (tea/coffee on arrival)
10.00 Welcome and introduction
Emer Costello MEP, Leader, Irish Delegation, Socialists and Democrats Group, Member EP Committee on Employment & Social Affairs
10.15 Keynote Address
Eamon Gilmore TD, Tánaiste and Leader of the Labour Party
10.30 Panel Discussion and Q&A -
Delivering a Youth Guarantee for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown
James Doorley, National Youth Council of Ireland (Chair)
Marie Carroll, Southside Partnership
Josephine Browne, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Chamber of Commerce
Dr. Paula Gilligan, Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology (IADT)
Massimiliano Mascherini, Eurofound, The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
11.50 Closing remarks
Emer Costello MEP
12.00 Close
Youth unemployment is the biggest single challenge we face. Ireland’s youth unemployment rate currently stands at 26.5%, meaning that 55,000 young men and women, including nearly 4,000 in Dun Laoghaire and south county Dublin, are currently out of work. The figure for Europe as a whole stands at 5.6 million.
The European Union is now providing €8 billion to combat youth unemployment. These funds will be used to implement the European Youth Guarantee in EU regions with very high (i.e. above 25%) rates of youth unemployment.
Based on what works in other European countries, this is intended to offer young unemployed people quality employment, training, an apprenticeship or further education within four months of finishing their education or becoming unemployed. EU spending will be frontloaded over 2014 and 2015.
I want to see at least one third of Ireland’s allocation going to Dublin, including Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown.
This event is aimed at enabling young people in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and organisations working with them find out more about the European Youth Guarantee. It will also allow them to have their say on how it should be implemented, so that the European Youth Guarantee makes a real impact on the area’s youth unemployment.
Speakers will include representatives of youth organisations, local partnership groups, unemployed groups, and Government and European bodies involved in the European Youth Guarantee (see a full agenda underneath).
Emer Costello MEP