Sir, – Thomas O Brien PhD suggests that Irish university graduates should be punished, by removal of social welfare benefits, for their inability to find employment (July 7th).
Many unemployed graduates are already working for no remuneration, as interns and trainees. However, even a willingness to work for free cannot guarantee a recent graduate any relevant experience in their field.
The extra €50 per week merely recognises the effort that so many graduates are already making to find employment and remain in this country. As for the suggestion that graduates should “give something back to Irish society”, any reasonable person would agree that graduates do just that by remaining in this country and undertaking an internship offered to them, thereby reinvesting the cost of their education into the smart economy, instead of exporting it abroad as Mr O Brien PhD unhelpfully suggests. – Yours, etc,