Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My apologies for not answering Deputy Brady's question. We will have proposals for a replacement scheme for JobBridge in the next few weeks, in October if not in September. I do not want to pre-empt decisions that have not yet been made, and the budgetary impact has to be worked out in the context of the budget. We are moving towards capping the number of work experience placements and increasing the payment a person will receive. Capping the numbers will bring down the cost but increasing the payment will increase the cost and we do not yet know what the final position will be.

I accept that there were abuses in JobBridge and that it has had a lot of bad press. However, I have been around the country and talked to staff who engage with employers and jobseekers, as well as branch managers of social welfare offices, and, by and large, they are big fans of JobBridge. They say that, unlike other schemes, people can get involved in JobBridge very quickly. One must be unemployed for only three months to qualify for JobBridge, while other schemes are only available to people who have been unemployed for much longer. They also say that people get real work experience with a private-sector employer, as opposed to what is offered in Gateway or Tús, which tend to place people with a sponsor, an NGO or a public body. These people are big advocates of JobBridge and, while I am going to replace it, I do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I would not like to take the opportunity to work for multinational companies, retailers and other companies away from people who have never had work experience or worked for a private sector employer in a normal, traditional job.

A lot of them are very good work experience placements. The conversion rate in terms of the numbers who actually go on to employment is very high. It is much higher than for schemes that get very little criticism and we must bear that in mind.

In response to Deputy O'Dea's question, if he has an averaging submission on pensions, I would ask him to give it to us as soon as possible.