A €1.3 billion plan to take 50,000 people under the age of 25 off the dole immediately would demonstrate there are steps that can be taken to create employment and give vision and hope to the young, Sinn Féin said yesterday.
The party, which said the measures included fostering an “enterprise culture” among the young unemployed, said the project could be self-financing within two years, due to savings on social welfare payments.
Launching the plan yesterday, Senator Pearse Doherty of Sinn Féin said “we cannot sit on our hands and see the best minds of the generation wasted or exported”. The party wants to see the creation of a €100 million green technology fund and a major drive to attract foreign direct investment in renewable energy.
It suggested a national development scheme employing 2,000 people directly on public works, at a cost of about €100 million.
