Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Minister in the Department with primary responsibility for the promotion of a competitive environment that supports and promotes job creation, my Department and I are acutely aware of the enormous value of work experience in assisting jobseekers in finding employment. Since the inception of the JobBridge national internship scheme, my Department has been a willing participant and sought to maximise the opportunities available to jobseekers. Since 2011, when the scheme began, 25 placements have been offered by my Department, of which 13 have been taken up. Of these, six left within the proposed internship period - five to take up employment elsewhere and one for unspecified reasons - while five successfully completed their internship before moving on to other endeavours. There are two JobBridge interns assigned to my Department.

I emphasise for the Deputy that internships do not displace existing staff and are not used to fill vacant posts. My Department’s HR unit has been very careful to structure internships in such a way as to ensure interns receive quality training and experience that maximises their opportunity to find employment subsequently. The intern placements offered to date by my Department have been in areas such as company law and legal research, intellectual property and copyright report research, records management and entrepreneurship strategy projects.

On the question of JobBridge participants subsequently being offered employment in my Department, recruitment to all Departments is conducted openly and transparently via the Public Appointments Service and open to all suitably qualified applicants, as determined by the recruitment process. The possibility of directly retaining interns in my Department was, therefore, not an option. I am, however, confident that the experience they gained while in my Department was of significant benefit to them as they sought to progress their careers.

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