A Bad Deal for Young Ireland – Young Fine Gael call for the rejection of ‘Towards 2016’

Young Fine Gael (YFG) President, Elizabeth Munnelly, has today (August 10th) called for the rejection of the social partnership agreement, “Towards 2016”, characterising it as a bad deal for the young people of Ireland.

Speaking on this subject, she said:

“Across a wide number of areas, this is a bad deal for Young Ireland, in particular in the areas of suicide prevention and housing. In most aspects of the agreement, the concerns of young people have been ignored; in the few areas where they have been addressed, it is very difficult to attach any credibility to those promises.”

“Looking at suicide prevention, the proposed agreement speaks of “Ensuring implementation of the National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention, 2005-2014”. An admirable promise, however, we must remember that in the last partnership agreement, a commitment was made to implement the recommendations of the 1998 Task Force on Suicide. This was not delivered upon. Why then, should we take this new promise at face value without definite guarantees on resources and funding?”

“This issue is far too important to be put on the long finger once more.”

“The housing aspect of the agreement, whilst long on rhetoric offers little to young people trying to get on the housing ladder. Although the document carries reference to the needs of First Time buyers, nothing of substance is offered to help alleviate the financial strain they are under, either by way of: increasing the stamp duty exemptions; a first time buyers grant; mortgage relief; or any other mechanism.

In addition to this, the failure to include a review and evaluation of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000-2004 is deeply disappointing. So far all the evidence from around the country suggests that it has been implemented in a haphazard, inconsistent and illogical manner. It needs an urgent review to ensure that affordable housing is provided to those that need it most.”

“These are just some of the examples of how this partnership agreement fails young people. While there are some improvements in this agreement for young people such as in the area of motor insurance, on the whole this agreement is a bad deal for young Ireland.”

“We call on all those people with a vote in the process to reject this deal”