asked the Minister for Labour the number of people who were involved in courses or schemes under the Youth Employment Agency for 1985.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Youth Employment Agency.
9.
In 1985, 4,500 young people were catered for on programmes and schemes directly funded or administered by the Youth Employment Agency. In 1985, other programmes funded by the youth employment levy catered for 61,500 young people.
Will the Minister tell the House the estimated number of participants for 1986? As we are in the second month of 1986 I expect the Minister has that information. Will the Minister tell the House the impact the cutbacks in his Department, announced by the Minister for Finance in the budget last week, will have on the numbers?
My reply will be similar to the one I gave to the Deputy in regard to the AnCO estimates, for the same reasons. I had a meeting this morning with the chief executive of the Youth Employment Agency and he informed me that they are assessing their position in the light of changes made in the Estimates. I hope to be in a position to have the detailed projections which the Deputy is seeking within a matter of weeks. If the Deputy tables a question I will make that information available to him. Without prejudice to the final decision made by the YEA, I should like to tell the House that I will be hoping for the same kind of output that was achieved last year.
That is not much joy to the thousands of young unemployed people. The schemes will never be a substitute for employment but, on the other hand, they help young people temporarily. Will the Minister agree that at a time of high unemployment and when we are almost six weeks into the new year it is rather late in the day, despite all the promises of planning and programming made by the Taoiseach, to be programming the number of participants for courses in 1986?
I would not. The Deputy has intimate knowledge of how those agencies work. He is aware that they have already prepared substantial plans in regard to those programmes. What is at issue is the impact of the changes brought about in the Estimate. I have told the Deputy that I do not have the detailed estimate of the projections for 1986 in the light of the changes announced last week and the Deputy should accept that. However, I hope to have that information available within a matter of weeks when I will be able to convey it to him. All the Manpower and training agencies of the Department of Labour are proceeding with programmes. If the Deputy is trying to convey to the House that things have been brought to a standstill because of changes in the Estimate, it is an erroneous impression which I should like to correct.
I am not bringing changes that might be taking place to the notice of the House but the Minister for Finance appeared to bring this to the notice of the House last Wednesday when he announced that he was cutting back the amount of money available to the Department of Labour for areas such as those about which we are talking here. This is very disappointing and the Minister for Finance should be answering this question.