merrion street

Seán Sherlock T.D., Minister for Research and Innovation, this week (Tuesday) addressed the 101

session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva.

The ILC is the annual Congress of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which is the United Nations organisation that deals with employment and labour market issues and whose mission is to improve standards and conditions of work and to encourage productive employment throughout the world.

Minister Sherlock outlined to the ILC the programmes that the Irish Government has put in place to aid economic recovery and increase employment.

The Minister said, "Two robust policy measures, the Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work, underpin my Government’s policy objectives, with the Action Plan focussing on maximising the business environment for small and medium-sized enterprises, including access to financing, and Pathways to Work focussed on getting Irish people of all ages back to work."

Youth unemployment was one of the themes of the Conference and the ILO adopted a document at the end of the Congress which lists measures governments can take to address this problem.

Minister Sherlock said, "Youth unemployment, which is a significant theme of this year’s conference, is a high priority for the Irish Government, as one of eight EU Member States with significant levels of youth unemployment, currently at over 30%. We are working together with the Commission, Social partners and members of civil society such as the National Youth Council of Ireland to investigate ways in which European Funds can be prioritised to support jobs for young people. Initiatives such as the Youthreach programme, which provides education, training and work experience to young people, and the Labour Market Activation Fund which targets the cohort of under 25s, are targeted initiatives designed to tackle the scourge of youth unemployment".