Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The objective of JobBridge, the national internship scheme, is to assist individuals to bridge the gap between unemployment and the world of work. It will provide those seeking employment with an opportunity to undertake a six or nine-month internship in a host organisation. Participants will benefit from learning new skills to complement their existing skills. Participation on the scheme will assist in breaking the cycle of unemployed people being unable to get a job without experience, either as new entrants to the labour market after education or training or as unemployed workers whose existing skills will not be appropriate to the types of jobs that will emerge in post-recession Ireland. On completing their internships, participants will have improved their prospects of securing employment.

A host organisation participating in JobBridge must be in a position to provide a substantial commitment to its intern to ensure the provision of a quality internship. To this end, a clear set of rules has been developed to protect the intern and safeguard JobBridge from potential abuse. In addition, potential host organisations can avail of the JobBridge guidelines, toolkit and other helpful facilities available on the JobBridge website.

In order for an application from a host organisation to be put up on the JobBridge site, it must meet a number of criteria. The placement must not allow the intern to work unsupervised, he or she should accrue significant experience throughout the entire placement and an internship will not be approved where, in the absence of the intern, the organisation would need to recruit an employee to carry out the tasks identified in the internship.

Following this application process, in order for an internship to commence, a standard internship agreement must be signed by the intern and the host organisation. It specifies a number of conditions, including the number of hours worked, rest breaks and so on. To ensure compliance with the scheme, the Department of Social Protection and the employment services division of FÁS, which is operating the scheme with my Department under the national employment and entitlements service, are monitoring internships to ensure they are of sufficient quality and that both host organisations and interns are abiding by the spirit and the rules of the scheme.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

In this regard, each host organisation will be required to submit monthly compliance reports verifying that the internship is proceeding as set out in the standard internship agreement. The employment services division of FÁS will also undertake random site visits of internships as part of this process. In addition, a whistleblowing feature has been introduced whereby any individual who suspects that an internship may be in breach of the scheme's criteria may contact the national call centre. All such claims will be investigated. The control mechanisms and conditions have been put in place to protect the integrity of the scheme and to ensure the intern and host organisation both benefit from the arrangement.

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