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

Did the Minister read the responses with which they defended JobBridge? Schools that did not have SNAs advertised for SNAs. It is impossible that those people will be properly trained as SNAs in those schools. The response was:

JobBridge guidelines do not indicate that a like for like job to internship must exist within any given sector. In relation specifically to the education sector it is felt that an SNA intern will be working with a teacher.

It is a joke of a response. The report is damning. I have read all the responses. The last time there was an Indecon report, the then Minister, Deputy Joan Burton, dressed it up and spun it around and got a magical figure of 61% success. However, if one excludes those who got a job via a PRSI scheme, the success rate is 17.6%. It is less than the 29% of employers who said to the first Indecon report that if JobBridge did not exist, they would have been highly likely or fairly likely to employ somebody.

The reason I will oppose any scheme which is about people working for free is because I am against the exploitation of people and because I know it results in job displacement, as indicated in the internal audit, and acts as a downward pressure. Based on the Minister's response to Deputy Collins earlier, I suspect he is in favour of those things.

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