Equality laws hold up €127m jobs fund

More than €127m is available from the EU to help get young Irish people into work — but so far, schemes are being delayed partly because of equality legislation.

With a quarter of young people currently without a job, Ireland needs to speed up its youth employment initiatives, the European Commission says.

But the ban on discrimination on the grounds of age is holding up a number of schemes, as they are designed to help only those under the age of 25.