Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister did not really provide the figure in the very clear way I would like, I will spell out what I think the answer was. I asked how many placements had been provided and the answer was 13. A total of 25 placements were offered, of which 13 were taken up. I asked how many of them were subsequently offered full-time employment. If I did not take up the Minister wrong, the answer is zero. He obtained interns to work for the Department for nine monhts - I am sure they received valuable experience, etc. - and then did not employ them. This is the Department that is meant to be dealing with job creation. It highlights what is happening with the JobBridge scheme in that interns are being used to do work to make up for the recruitment embargo. They are also being used to legitimise the idea of people working for free and thus counteract the idea that there is actual job creation. That is the Government leading the way and the solutions-focused approach which sends a message to the private sector that if a company wants somebody to work for free, there is a great scheme called JobBridge in place, whereby the State will subsidise the company to have somebody come to work for free and the company will not have to employ them. I do not see how this helps in dealing with the unemployment crisis.

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