I like the idea of national military service like they have in many other European countries, I find the bit about voluntary and community work a bit worrying though.

It’ll keep them off the streets and out of trouble. Some might even learn a little self respect. Uniforms not tracksuits!

Young people? Was just young men the first time I heard about it. Nice to see she’s decided to be a little bit more inclusive in her insanity.

The country will always have its deadbeats, national service or no. The high unemployment rate is because of a lack of jobs. Micheal Taft summed that up perfectly here when the OECD came out asking for payments to be cut: http://notesonthefront.typepad.com/politicaleconomy/2011/05/the-oecd-goes-to-clown-college.html

Anyway, what the hell would a national service do? Are we planning any wars? Norway has plenty of oil, are we going to invade them and try our hand at a new economic backbone?
All you’d have would be a national army of street cleaners and sandbag layers. So, let’s not just cut payments to people who can’t find jobs that aren’t there, let’s demoralise them into doing free labour that should be done by a PAYING public service, or private companies.

Had a great idea to stop unemployment….. everybody’s working week be brought down to 3 days a week the other two days must be filled by hiring this means everyone would have 4 days to stay at home with family and friends and enjoy there life. live to work or work to live. I think this TD is on the side that we live to work better keep the young busy with army training this sounds like European union talk to me not that of a young TD from Mayo….

BTW, if we did bring in national service, and all these “young people” are out there cleaning streets and tidying flower beds and helping out in hospitals and acting as volunteer firemen…
…what do the people whose jobs they will be doing get as a severance package?

Is this just a scheme so ‘young people’ wont have time to think how much they are being screwed and distract them from getting notions above their station, like protesting the way the Greeks and Spanish are? There are lots of alternatives to keeping peoples minds active without resorting to threats of social welfare cuts. As for the boredom I cant imagine polishing boots and marching like a robot will stimulate the minds of the future. Fine Gael are a loose cannon at this stage, pun intended.

Jasus, an easy way to earn a pension!

I like this woman and i like her idea. I think it would be a good idea to teach respect and disipline to young people. As well as that it would mean that the got some physcial exersize. I dont think it need be militry service but maybe social service. Trying to clean up the streets on a Saturday or Sunday morning after they have been wreaked by there friend the night before. Maybe helping the elderly or infirm. It would do no harm to have people giving a bit back every now and then

This is Hilarious. Well people cant sat they didn’t know who they where voting for

This is crazy… there is a strange but very scary ideoligy in FG and the EU.We are a neutral country and these people are showing all the signs of what the NO camp in the Lisbon treaty 1 and 2.We have been fooled keep the eyes open people. Why dont politicans spend some time in the military to show there willing to serve the country not just themselves and there cronies..

Mulherin made some pretty silly comments about national service but what annoyed me the most was what she said about the culture of entitlement among people on benefits in Ireland. While this may be evident in some small sectors of society it is not endemic as she suggests, we had practically full employment in Ireland at some stage with 3.5% unemployment which suggests to me that the majority of the 14% on the live register now aren’t work shy. In fact I think many of them would jump at the chance of work. Telling people that they will have their benefits cut if they refuse work is one thing but if there is no work its pointless even thinking about it.

If this government want to last much longer they will have to come up with more effective ideas to create jobs than national service and volunteering, all this internship stuff just seems like there is no way they can create more than a few hundred jobs. As someone who is involved in a WPP scheme, it is worrying that this may be my only option other then emigration and thats something I really don’t want to do.

Idea might be more properly adapted as a sort of boot camp system for young offenders not as punishment but as drilling. Getting aggression out of system through PE and maybe giving them basics of a good trade. Might be worth considering then.

I think we should start with a spelling and grammar boot camp for some of the people posting comments on thejournal.ie. We could start with the basic usage of…Their, there and they’re.
Some of the comments on this article show such a complete lack of understanding of society. Ah sure teach them some respect, that will sort them out. Never mind the drug problems and lack of education and opportunity.

if our education system actually catered for all and not just the academics it might stomp out leaving school with out knowing how to read and write, how many kids slip through the cracks and get no help and how many schools are losing special needs assistance, Some people i know have barely any reading or writing skills and usually they come to me to help them fill in forms Irish whatever and they are genuinely scared because they can’t read or write and feel ashamed and they need to feel there able to do something and need the confidence and tbh on the dead beat dads there are lots in their 30′s and 40′s their not kids you know!

What Fu..ing planet is she on, all we need are jobs! Only a very very small minority of people on the dole don’t want a job. My husband was on the dole for five months and eventually went to middle east to work for a year (thankfully he has a job here now), no way did he want to do nothing, but there are no jobs. He was lucky that he could relocate but the family was apart.

we have 8000 service men and women in ireland already getting paid for doing nothing what plant is this stupid woman on typical fine gael more shit talk god i hat them

Had to laugh at finegael and rte’s little psyops ‘psychological operations’ piece.On the ‘news’ a pumped up ‘report’ on naval wargames and aircorps sexyness was shown. Mmmmmm……i wonder what this is all about ? The report is on the rte news website ….here is a little background to psyops http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXg70qJQ6O0

I suggest any racist idiots that think that immigrants come to Ireland to “milk” the system should be immediately stripped of their Irish citizenship and made to suffer the work permit and Garda Immigration system.