Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, as the Deputy is or at least should be aware, the scheme is entirely voluntary on the part of both the employers and those taking part in it. No one was ever required to take up a JobBridge internship. When I was at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, we had JobBridge interns, some of whom went on to full-time jobs. It is important to ask people who have taken part what they think of the scheme, and 65% of those who took part stated that they would recommend it to a family member or friend, while 89% stated that it had given them new skills. These are people who actually took part, and it is more important to listen to them than to the activists - who of course have their views, to which they are entitled.

However, it was a scheme for its time and it is outdated. I intend to either abolish it altogether or replace it with a more targeted scheme in September. However, I do not wish to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and I wish to allow Indecon to finish its work in order that it can help inform me on what scheme should or might replace it. I certainly am open to suggestions from Sinn Féin as to what it considers should replace it.

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