Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The Department monitors the website, as do the people in FÁS. This is an important job.

Internationally, internships have a good history of filling in the gap for someone who has qualified at a certain level but in a recession cannot get a job because he does not have experience and cannot get experience because he cannot enter a job. We want to stop that catch-22 situation.

There is monitoring at each stage and, ultimately, when an intern is matched with a host employer, an agreement is made between the two of them, including an agreement to be monitored and to check, for instance, on the intern's side if he shows up, because he will get his social welfare and an extra €50 per week, and on the employer's side that the internship delivers what it said it would deliver. In addition, if interns have problems they can complain and if an employer abuses the internship scheme, he will not be granted further internships.

We are still at the start-up stage but I appreciate Deputies monitoring this. It is helpful because it is the first time we have done it and there has been a hugely positive response. I want this to work as well as possible.

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