Sir, – As a former member of the long defunct Youth Employment Agency, I write to express my concern at the increase in the level of youth unemployment in Ireland.
According to the Central Statistics Office, the youth unemployment rate was 12.2 per cent in July 2025, an increase from 10.8 per cent recorded in July last year.
There has hardly been a word from Government on the topic. And no mention of an analysis of the location of the rise in numbers, discussions with employers in those areas, educational initiatives, or incentives to go where there is work or education.
To be unemployed and socially inactive as a young person is a potential life sentence of poverty and despair. In the 1980s that despair was matched by a drug epidemic in the areas worst affected.
RM Block
The gardaí recently noted the number of young people in the violent unrest in Dublin. A person with no prospects and no hope is an easy target for a bit of excitement, and worse. They rapidly become citizens with nothing to lose.
The Government needs to acknowledge this immediate and growing problem, analyse its causes and announce measures to tackle the issue. – Yours, etc,
JANET HUGHES,
Boyle,
Co Roscommon.
