Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

I welcome the creation of the topical issues debate. Of all the Dáil reforms that are taking place, this is the most significant in terms of shifting the balance in favour of the ordinary Deputy. It puts us centre stage in the middle of the day able to raise issues which are topical and of concern to our constituents and this is extremely important.

Will the Minister for Social Protection considered changing the qualification period for JobBridge from signing on the live register for three months to a shorter period of time? This is to ensure people who are unemployed and who are anxious to apply for vacancies are enabled to do so. Concerns have been raised with me about this issue. I met someone who would like to apply for a JobBridge vacancy but is not in a position to do so because of not being unemployed for long enough and because of not being in receipt of benefits. One must be in receipt of a payment or signing on for credits for three months. The person concerned had not been employed for three months and was not signing on for credits because of not knowing that one could do so or what this means. The person also did not see the point because one does not receive payments for doing so; there is no incentive to sign on for credits.

In my view, this person is very representative of the many people who would not qualify for a jobseeker's payment because of not meeting the means test requirements or not having enough credits to receive unemployment benefit. Most people do not sign on for credits, or they might do so intermittently and give up on it because they do not see the point as it involves a cost for people who do not receive a payment. It would cost people with no income to take the bus to sign on. Prior to this, it was not possible to avail of schemes such as JobBridge by signing on, so there was no incentive for people to do so. Therefore, as people have not been signing on for the required period of time, they are not eligible for JobBridge. A vacancy might be advertised on the site but they cannot apply for it.

Students may also be affected. Students can sign on the live register after finishing a course even though they may not be entitled to a payment but they would have to sign on for three months. Why do applicants need to have signed on for three months to be eligible for one of these vacancies? Many of these vacancies are actually ideal for graduates and those who have just finished a training course. However, they must have to wait and sign on for three months before they can apply for an internship. I do not see the reasoning to this delay. We should be doing everything we can to facilitate people who want to apply for JobBridge vacancies. I recall that to apply for the former social employment schemes, one needed to only have signed on for one week, a move which showed certain flexibility then. There is no logic to the three-month wait for the JobBridge internship scheme when it could easily be just for a week.

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