Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The Government information spin machine has been trying to prepare the ground for a reintroduction of JobBridge, a JobBridge 2.0. Rather than debating it in the Dáil, we saw it mentioned in one of the Sunday newspapers. There will be substantial opposition to any attempt to reintroduce a JobBridge scheme, even through the backdoor. The plans yesterday refer to a new work experience placement programme with a target of 10,000 participants. For the Government to think it can trick people into accepting the bringing back of JobBridge under another name shows there is a plan to return to austerity and keep wages extremely low, despite what the Taoiseach has said publicly.

JobBridge was about exploitation. Even the former Minister of State, John Halligan, admitted it was widely exploited by employers. I lead a campaign called ScamBridge, which outed one scheme after another, exposing the reality of what they were, in that people were working for €1.25 per hour. The Government was ultimately forced to abolish it because of public outrage. We do not need another so-called job activation scheme. We do not need these schemes to force people to work for free. Instead, we need the creation of real, quality, green jobs.

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