Baineann mo cheist le fostaíocht san Aontas Eorpach. Tá gá orainn níos mó a dhéanamh chun eolas a thabhairt do dhaoine, go háirithe anseo in Éirinn, faoi na poist atá ar fáil agus an bealach ar féidir iarratas a dhéanamh orthu le go n-éireoidh leo lena gcuid iarratas agus na poist sin a thógáil. Tá sé sin thar a bheith tábhachtach, go háirithe an tseachtain seo nuair atá Lá na hEorpa á cheiliúradh againn Dé hAoine. Caithfidh muid a bheith in ann a rá i rith Uachtaránacht an Aontais Eorpaigh go bhfuil muid ag déanamh iarracht Éireannaigh a chur sna poist sin ar fud na hEorpa. The question I have this evening is about employment in European Union institutions. As this week we celebrate Europe Day commemorating the Schuman Declaration, it is an important week to think about this as we approach the Presidency coming up on 1 July as well. This week a delegation from the European affairs committee, which I chair, visited Luxembourg where there are a number of European institutions there and a number of Irish people working within those institutions. It was my pleasure to meet many of them and talk to them about the work they are doing. They range from people who are on stages there, people who are trainees within places like the Court of Auditors, to Tony Murphy who is currently the lead person, the president of the Court of Auditors. There are Irish people throughout those institutions contributing at the very highest level. Thank God they are there because the reality is that at the moment our influence within those institutions is waning and we need to do something about that. One of the things I learned this week is that Ireland is not even in the top ten in terms of European countries applying for such jobs. I am talking about per capita rather than in sheer numbers. It contrasts sharply with countries like Italy, for example, which specifically targets jobs within European institutions by putting in place a whole college, a whole institution, whose job it is to prepare Italians to apply for jobs, to position them, to inform them, to help them make those applications and to help them be competitive when going through the process. Although we have had some notable Irish people at the top of the European civil service like Catherine Day, who was, of course, the head civil servant within the European Commission, many of those people have retired. The people who occupy high positions will retire in the coming years. For example, six Irish people in the Court of Auditors will come to retirement in the coming years. If they retire and leave that service, we do not have the people coming behind them to fill the positions and to ensure we still have that presence within the institutions. It can be said that these are institutions for the whole of the European Union and not for Ireland, and of course that is true, but we should be represented in them. One of the ways we can do that is by focusing our resources to educate people throughout the country on what is available. It is not just that, but we need to encourage them to apply for jobs, to inform them about what the pay and conditions are. It is not just about the pay, there are also favourable tax incentives for them, childcare facilities, healthcare facilities and relocation grants. Lots of things go with these jobs. More importantly, these are immensely fulfilling jobs. They do important work that influences the decisions that are made across our Continent. The opportunity for people in this jurisdiction to contribute at that level is huge. In addition to giving them all that information, we also need to advise them how to apply and how to be successful in their applications so that when they put in applications, they are competitive in that. We are not even competitive yet in terms of the numbers of applications being made. If we do not have enough people applying, we will not have enough people who will be awarded those positions. There are institutions not just in Luxembourg but across the EU, including Eurofound here in Ireland. This is the time we need to have a concerted effort to inform people in this country about the opportunities there, encourage them to apply and help them make successful applications.

Sentiment score: 0.22

I agree with the Minister of State on the effort being made. I acknowledge the work done by the Department of foreign affairs and European Movement Ireland. I also acknowledge that Noelle O'Connell has left as the head of European Movement and has been replaced by David Geary. We wish him the best of luck there. They do a particularly good job in terms of advertising jobs and making people aware. While I acknowledge that there has been success there, many of our highly qualified capable graduates are not aware of the opportunities that arise. It is not just the Commission and the Parliament. There are many institutions across the European Union where there are good quality jobs that give people an opportunity to contribute at the highest level but also give us an opportunity as a country to put our values and our views at the top table. We need to be encouraging those people, and however good it might be now, we need to redouble our efforts. There is an opportunity coming with the Presidency. I know from speaking to colleagues around Europe that there is a very high expectation for how Ireland will do during that Presidency. We all have faith that our officials will continue to deliver at the highest level, as they have done in the past and as they will do again in the second half of this year. However, there is an opportunity now for us to target graduates from university, people within the jobs market. I am not talking about it happening passively but we need to be doing it actively. There should be a dedicated unit within the Department of foreign affairs that has, as its remit, education, information and assistance to help people get into those positions, and doing so in a targeted way with measurables so they can show the increases in numbers of applications and the successes that might come from those applications. If we do not do this, we will allow our numbers to reduce in real terms and our influence within the Union to reduce. It is to be hoped during our Presidency that we will pursue an enlargement agenda which will make the European Union larger. I know that Montenegro might be at the top of the list, but there are countries very close behind it as well. In the coming years, we will see enlargement. A lot of their citizens will have to fill positions. We cannot allow Ireland to fall behind into a position where our guys are not getting a seat at the table the way they should.

Sentiment score: 0.36