Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I can tell the Minister I am philosophically and politically opposed to the misuse, and I view it as an exploitation of the very people to whom the Minister referred to carry out work on behalf of the State for such a paltry payment. There are other ways internships can be offered and give this level of experience to people. The Minister conceded that downsizing and headcount reduction to achieve savings is a crude policy, and equally the ongoing moratorium in terms of recruitment into the public service and Civil Service is, by definition, a crude instrument. Crudest of all is the use of a scheme such as this to do work which results in legislation coming before the Houses of the Oireachtas. I am surprised that as a member of the Labour Party the Minister did not look askance at it. I do not have figures on the use of the scheme in other Departments but it would be interesting to have a look at them.