Special EU team to examine jobs plan

The special team being put together by the European Commission will be checking on the measures the Government is taking to address unemployment, especially among young people where 30% have no jobs.

The letter announcing the team — and asking the Taoiseach to set up a similar group to co-ordinate with them — went to Ireland and seven other countries with high youth unemployment.

The commission denied the letter from president José Manuel Barroso to Mr Kenny was an insult, ignoring the fact that there were almost no funds left, and telling him to organise a special group headed by someone from the Taois- each’s department to liaise with Brussels.

“We are looking forward to getting a response from Ireland on how we are going to work together on this”, said the commission’s spokeswoman, Pia Ahrenk- ilde Hansen.

However, with almost 100% of Ireland’s EU funding already allocated to projects, there is little scope for advice from the commission on spending the meagre €2m that remains to be spent this year and next. To access it, the Government must find an additional €800,000 to match it.

The team of experts will also look at the design of current and planned projects to see if they can be improved, offer lessons learned from best practice, and take away good ideas to be used elsewhere, said Cristina Arigho, EU commission spokeswoman for employment and social affairs.

“It isn’t just about spending the money, it is also about making sure any funds committed are being spent on good quality projects that have an impact on the ground,” she said.

Since Ireland has its own programme with the troika overseeing the Government’s spending, there will not be the same emphasis on the National Reform Programme targets it submits later in the year under the EU’s economic governance framework.

As a result, the Commission will check on the measures the Government is taking to address unemployment, and discuss their ideas for a youth job plan.

Ireland national targets submitted to the EU last April aim to increase the employment rate to around 70% for those people aged 20 to 64.