Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Minister referred to a high level of criticism based on anecdote or very small-scale surveys by various interest groups. Leaked to RTE's "This Week" programme was an internal audit from the Minister's Department that is not based on small-scale surveys by various interest groups. It is an extensive audit and it paints a picture that blows a complete hole in all the spin of the Government and its predecessor on JobBridge. The most fundamental point is that "It is not possible to verify whether the internship is displacing a potential job vacancy". It refers to a nightmarish set of circumstances in which 15 schools have no special needs assistant, SNA, posts allocated but have SNA interns.

According to the report, "587 cases identified with graduate, intern or trainee in the title of the advertised position", despite the fact that it was against the rules. Did the Minister have the report in his possession when, on 31 May, he told me JobBridge was a highly successful scheme? On 18 February, the Secretary General of his Department had a report which said it was anything but a successful scheme and that all the spin the Minister has been trotting out about JobBridge was untrue.

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