Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I am raising this matter to ask the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, to allow graduate architects to participate in the JobBridge scheme to fulfil the employment condition in their registration as an architect. The Minister will be aware that to become an architect graduates study for five years and that having successfully completed their study, they must register to use the title "architect". To register, they must first pass a professional examination and then - this is where the difficulty lies - be in paid employment in a professional architectural practice for two years. I need hardly remind the House or the Minister that the construction industry has been decimated since 2008. Of all those hit by the downturn in the industry, the architect profession has been hardest hit. There is almost no design work available and there are few opportunities for young unregistered graduates.

Were graduates to be granted access to the JobBridge scheme they could take up an internship which would, in turn, open the door to their professional examinations which they cannot take unless they have obtained work. Graduate architects are excluded from participation in the JobBridge scheme on the basis that as they have a further examination to take, they are unavailable for employment. However, that is not the case. The Department has, since commencement of the recession, recognised the people concerned as been eligible for unemployment benefit.

I am asking the Minister to allow these graduates the opportunity to complete their qualifications through participation in the JobBridge scheme. There are only about 150 such graduates each year. While the OPW takes some of them on and a limited number find work in the private sector, the only option for the majority is emigration. However, they are not recognised abroad as architects because they have not attained their final qualification. The Minister is aware, having been in the House during the passage of legislation in this regard, that this registration is recognised across Europe. Graduates are required to sit an examination to obtain their qualification, but to do so they must first obtain work. However, under the current JobBridge scheme rules, they cannot get work because they must take an examination. I ask the Minister to review the scheme with a view to facilitating these graduates.

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