Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

Yes. I nearly referred to the Deputy as Minister as I marked him in a former mandate. In terms of the issues raised vis-À-vis graduates, there will be a clear priority within the upcoming jobs initiative towards adopting a qualitative approach to internships. The intention is to take a more holistic view of the workplace programmes which it could be argued were not necessarily providing for the progression required in allowing students to progress from graduate status into the workplace and move further within that stream. There is a clear priority in terms of internships which are additional to the existing programmes. It should also be noted that there are at least 276,564 training places provided for if one takes the FÁS programme, the Skillnets programme, the labour market activation programme, the PLC programmes and the VTOS programmes. They are well encompassed and the 15,000 places are additional. It is envisaged that there will be a particular emphasis on providing quality internships in order to stem the tide of emigration and ensure graduates will not just be educated to take up jobs in such places as Australia and other countries. A qualitative approach will be taken to the placement of graduates.

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