Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I thank Deputy Ó Caoláin for raising this important issue in general and in particular for his constituent. Earlier this year, the Government announced its jobs initiative, which was a major step in helping to get Ireland back on the road to recovery. The Government's aim was to begin the process of restoring confidence in Ireland's economy, but also restoring hope and confidence in the huge number of people who currently find themselves out of employment. JobBridge, the national internship scheme, is a key element of the jobs initiative.

Since its launch on 1 July this year, JobBridge has already achieved significant milestones. As of last Friday, there are just under 2,600 internship opportunities being advertised on the JobBridge website, www.jobbridge.ie, and a total of 2,879 interns have actually commenced their internship. These figures show the strong level of interest in JobBridge, both from a host organisation perspective but also, importantly, from prospective interns.

The aim of JobBridge is to assist individuals bridge the gap between unemployment and the world of work. JobBridge provides those seeking employment with the opportunity to undertake a six or nine month internship in a host organisation. The scheme aims to offer individuals of all skill levels, ranging from those who left school early to highly qualified graduates and postgraduates, a unique opportunity to develop new skills to complement their existing skills and earn valuable experience. Upon completing their internship, participants will have improved their prospects of securing employment.

In the current labour market environment, JobBridge also provides individuals with a unique opportunity to secure work experience in a new field. These could be people coming from the construction industry who no longer have employment and need to get into a new field. The scheme enables people to break the cycle whereby unemployed people are unable to get a job without experience and cannot gain experience without a job, either as new entrants to the labour market after education or training or as unemployed workers, like construction workers, whose existing skills need to be enhanced to ensure they stand the best possible chance of securing work.

In order to be eligible for the scheme, individuals must be in receipt of a live claim on the live register and have been receiving jobseeker's benefit or jobseeker's allowance, or signing for social insurance contribution credits, for at least 78 days in the last six months. The purpose of these eligibility criteria for the JobBridge scheme is to provide a pathway to appropriate employment, training and education opportunities for those on the live register so that, as employment opportunities become available, they are taken up by those on the live register. Given the scale of the unemployment crisis, it is imperative to keep those on the live register close to the labour market and to try to prevent the drift into long-term unemployment. For these reasons, the eligibility for the scheme is confined to those on the live register and in receipt of unemployment payments or signing for credits for at least 78 days of the last six months. In so designing the scheme, the policy objective is to prioritise scarce resources on those on the live register so as to increase their chances of leaving it and ensure a reduction in Exchequer costs over time.

The Department continues to monitor and review the operation of the JobBridge scheme, including its eligibility criteria, on an ongoing basis. However, for the reasons outlined, there are no plans to amend the participant eligibility criteria. I assure the Deputy we keep it constantly under review. I have taken many queries and questions from Deputies in the House. We have changed the scheme on an ongoing basis and we will have an evaluation system in place. This has already gone to tender and it is a first in regard to social welfare that we would evaluate results as close as possible to people actually undertaking various activation programmes. This is something people have spoken about over a long period.

JobBridge is the first initiative operated under the new national employment and entitlements service, which was a commitment contained in the programme for Government. The implementation of this new service under the management of the Department of Social Protection is a crucial element of improved targeting of the resources applied to work placement, training and education for unemployed people and will provide the framework within which the reinvigorated national employment action plan will deliver activation policies and priorities.

Individuals in receipt of one-parent family payment have access to a wide range of activation supports. The Deputy referred to the FÁS work placement programme, specifically in regard to his constituent. The problem with the work placement programme is, as the Deputy pointed out, that there is no top-up payment and many people on that programme have opted, where they qualify, to transfer over to JobBridge. I am continuing to keep all of this under review.

We are constrained by the circumstances in which I got the go-ahead in Government to proceed with this scheme in the context of the discussions with the people from the troika, who want to see the activation of people on the live register. Initially, we are confining it to such people because those are the terms and conditions. However, I am keeping this constantly under personal review, as are the people on the steering group. We meet very frequently to, as it were, gather all the experience of what works and what does not work. I appreciate the Deputy's concern in this area.

See this speech in context