Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Michael Taft is not my economist and hopefully he is nobody's economists. I think he is an independent economist and was probably closer to the Minister's party in the past than mine. The Minister mentioned independent research but she has never quoted the following fact from her Indecon report. One of the questions to the employers was whether they would employ someone if JobBridge was not available, which is the displacement level. The level is 29%, as 29% of host companies said that, in the absence of JobBridge, they would have offered paid employment to the interns. Some 29% were willing to admit publicly that they were glad they could scam the Government, get the subsidy and gain a competitive advantage over companies close by. The question is what the full cost to the Exchequer is and, as pointed out in the Indecon report that the Minister is forever quoting at me when I raise JobBridge, some 30% of the companies would have employed someone. That would have led to more money for the Exchequer and more money in the pockets of at least 30% of people. JobBridge is now being made compulsory, forcing people into the scam. It should be changed.

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