Students staged a protest outside the constituency office of Minister for Enterprise Batt O'Keeffe in Co Cork today to highlight what they described as his "inaction" in tackling graduate unemployment.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office for June show almost 92,000 people under the age of 25 are unemployed, while data from the Higher Education Authority show fewer than of undergraduates who completed degrees in 2009 are employed.
The Union of Students of Ireland (USI) claims more and more skilled graduates are emigrating and many will never return to Ireland.
About 20 students dressed as teachers and doctors gathered outside Mr O'Keeffe's office in Ballincollig this morning.
The students claimed that playing fancy dress was their only option as jobs are not plentiful in any of the professions in recessionary times.
The Minister was not in the office during the protest.
USI president Gary Redmond said the Government has invested millions in an attempt to create a workforce that is renowned across the globe for its expertise and innovative capacity.
"Graduates are in tears about having to go abroad but every door is being slammed on them," he said. "If these people are forced to emigrate they are going to set up families, buy houses and not come back."
Mr Redmond said students are anxious to be given the opportunity to rebuild Ireland's economy, and contribute to the future prosperity of this island.
A spokeswoman for Mr O'Keeffe said he secured increased investment last month for enterprise and job creation initiatives under the six-year capital review plan.
"Under the plan, the Government is investing almost €1.2 billion in our job creation agencies to create more than 270,000 jobs up to 2016. A further 30,000 jobs will be supported annually under the capital infrastructure programme while some 10,000 jobs will be created through retrofitting and energy projects."
The Government has vowed to invest €2.4 billion in science, technology and innovation programmes to create new high-quality jobs.