If Community Employment schemes for young people are scrapped alternative options will be provided, the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, told youth leaders.
She met them yesterday to discuss the Deloitte & Touche report on CE, which recommends raising the participation age from 21 to 25.
About 4,300 young people would be affected by such a change, according to the president of the National Youth Council of Ireland, Ms Jillian Hassett, who led yesterday's delegation.
