Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The website of the JobBridge scheme lists the following eligibility criteria: one must be unemployed and actively seeking work, and one must be on the live register and currently in receipt of jobseeker's benefit, jobseeker's allowance or signing for social insurance contribution credits for three of the past six months. This appears fairly straightforward. Unfortunately, it is not so. Only when one reads the fine print of the scheme is it revealed that a person can meet these criteria and still be excluded, on the basis that the person is also in receipt of one parent family payment. For the record, one can be in receipt of one parent payment and a reduced jobseeker's benefit payment.

Therefore, single parents are obliged to give up their one parent payment if they wish to avail of the scheme. This is unfair, discriminatory and detrimental, not only to the parent but to his or her child or children. It must be remembered that the purpose of the one parent payment is to help the recipient provide for his or her child in the absence of income from a partner. It is not a payment made solely for the benefit of the adult in the family.

When my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, raised this matter with the Minister by way of parliamentary question, Deputy Burton's response was to state that "Individuals in receipt of One Parent Family Payment may access a wide range of activation supports including the FÁS Work Placement Programme". However, the FÁS work placement programme is, according to the scheme's own website, "unpaid and voluntary". In fact, participation in such a scheme may entail a net cost to the participant, particularly in rural areas such as my constituency where travel is likely to be involved, and costs such as lunches and child care. The weekly JobBridge payment, €50, may be a pittance to some but at least it would go some way towards the costs of a person's involvement in the scheme. The FÁS programme is not an adequate substitute.

The problems this exclusion is causing are not hypothetical. I received the following correspondence from a constituent in receipt of lone parent family payment and already participating in a work placement programme. She writes:

It is beginning to get disheartening going into a job every day not getting paid. I am struggling to get by. I have not been able to pay my mortgage for months, I can't afford to tax my car at the moment, I have no oil for my house and it is starting to get colder. I am at my wits end trying to figure out how I am meant to pay my bills, raise my two teenage sons, celebrate Christmas and put my son through college next year when all I am in receipt of is €247 a week from One Parent Family payments. I get nothing from their dad and no other help. My parents are unable to help me anymore as my dad is struggling to find work himself and I took up this work placement as a way to try and make a future for myself and my boys. I am fighting back the tears typing this because I have always been such a self-sufficient person and I feel that I am now such a failure because I can't provide for my children. I feel totally trapped and at a loss of what to do next. If I leave my work placement, I blow any chance of getting a job in the future here but it is costing me money I don't have, to come to work every day.

I ask the Minister to consider sincerely the words I have read. This constituent, who is well known to me and whose integrity I can confidently vouch for, is not only suffering financially because of her inability to access even the meagre payment available under the JobBridge scheme, it is also clearly causing her enormous emotional distress. She is not alone. I have no doubt that any Member in this House who talks to constituents will know of cases similar to that I have outlined. In the face of an economic crisis, the Government's policies are leading - I do not believe this in any way stretches the situation - to mental health issues for people. That is a fact of life, very sadly, from the cohort and profile of cases that are coming to my office on a week-on-week basis. I ask the Minister to sympathetically and compassionately respond to the appeal I have made.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I thank Deputy Ó Caoláin for raising this important issue in general and in particular for his constituent. Earlier this year, the Government announced its jobs initiative, which was a major step in helping to get Ireland back on the road to recovery. The Government's aim was to begin the process of restoring confidence in Ireland's economy, but also restoring hope and confidence in the huge number of people who currently find themselves out of employment. JobBridge, the national internship scheme, is a key element of the jobs initiative.

Since its launch on 1 July this year, JobBridge has already achieved significant milestones. As of last Friday, there are just under 2,600 internship opportunities being advertised on the JobBridge website, www.jobbridge.ie, and a total of 2,879 interns have actually commenced their internship. These figures show the strong level of interest in JobBridge, both from a host organisation perspective but also, importantly, from prospective interns.

The aim of JobBridge is to assist individuals bridge the gap between unemployment and the world of work. JobBridge provides those seeking employment with the opportunity to undertake a six or nine month internship in a host organisation. The scheme aims to offer individuals of all skill levels, ranging from those who left school early to highly qualified graduates and postgraduates, a unique opportunity to develop new skills to complement their existing skills and earn valuable experience. Upon completing their internship, participants will have improved their prospects of securing employment.

In the current labour market environment, JobBridge also provides individuals with a unique opportunity to secure work experience in a new field. These could be people coming from the construction industry who no longer have employment and need to get into a new field. The scheme enables people to break the cycle whereby unemployed people are unable to get a job without experience and cannot gain experience without a job, either as new entrants to the labour market after education or training or as unemployed workers, like construction workers, whose existing skills need to be enhanced to ensure they stand the best possible chance of securing work.

In order to be eligible for the scheme, individuals must be in receipt of a live claim on the live register and have been receiving jobseeker's benefit or jobseeker's allowance, or signing for social insurance contribution credits, for at least 78 days in the last six months. The purpose of these eligibility criteria for the JobBridge scheme is to provide a pathway to appropriate employment, training and education opportunities for those on the live register so that, as employment opportunities become available, they are taken up by those on the live register. Given the scale of the unemployment crisis, it is imperative to keep those on the live register close to the labour market and to try to prevent the drift into long-term unemployment. For these reasons, the eligibility for the scheme is confined to those on the live register and in receipt of unemployment payments or signing for credits for at least 78 days of the last six months. In so designing the scheme, the policy objective is to prioritise scarce resources on those on the live register so as to increase their chances of leaving it and ensure a reduction in Exchequer costs over time.

The Department continues to monitor and review the operation of the JobBridge scheme, including its eligibility criteria, on an ongoing basis. However, for the reasons outlined, there are no plans to amend the participant eligibility criteria. I assure the Deputy we keep it constantly under review. I have taken many queries and questions from Deputies in the House. We have changed the scheme on an ongoing basis and we will have an evaluation system in place. This has already gone to tender and it is a first in regard to social welfare that we would evaluate results as close as possible to people actually undertaking various activation programmes. This is something people have spoken about over a long period.

JobBridge is the first initiative operated under the new national employment and entitlements service, which was a commitment contained in the programme for Government. The implementation of this new service under the management of the Department of Social Protection is a crucial element of improved targeting of the resources applied to work placement, training and education for unemployed people and will provide the framework within which the reinvigorated national employment action plan will deliver activation policies and priorities.

Individuals in receipt of one-parent family payment have access to a wide range of activation supports. The Deputy referred to the FÁS work placement programme, specifically in regard to his constituent. The problem with the work placement programme is, as the Deputy pointed out, that there is no top-up payment and many people on that programme have opted, where they qualify, to transfer over to JobBridge. I am continuing to keep all of this under review.

We are constrained by the circumstances in which I got the go-ahead in Government to proceed with this scheme in the context of the discussions with the people from the troika, who want to see the activation of people on the live register. Initially, we are confining it to such people because those are the terms and conditions. However, I am keeping this constantly under personal review, as are the people on the steering group. We meet very frequently to, as it were, gather all the experience of what works and what does not work. I appreciate the Deputy's concern in this area.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I outlined a previous reply by the Minister to my colleague, Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh. It was the Minister's reply that made reference to the FÁS work placement programme in the first instance. Sadly, it has brought no benefit other than the experience itself in the particular case I cite. With respect, although the Minister gave a lengthy, nine paragraph reply, it is only in the last paragraph that any reference is made to the situation in regard to one-parent family payment, which is the focus of my question.

There should be no mistake. We were not, by any means, enthusiasts for the JobBridge scheme when it was first introduced. We believed it was poorly designed and aimed at camouflaging the real situation in regard to the unemployment rate. We argued it was not a substitute for a programme of job creation, which we do not believe the Government has seriously brought forward.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I am sorry to interrupt. The Minister must reply before we conclude.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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As long as the JobBridge scheme is all that is on offer, I will of course make the case that lone parents and non-parents alike should be treated similarly. In this instance, if the Minister is to undertake any review, I urge her to hear and heed the cry of this woman, who is representative of a number. It is not going to break the bank but it will make a huge difference. They are very eager and anxious to take it up.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I will bear in mind what the Deputy has said. We got the go-ahead for the scheme under the very stringent conditionality that it related to people on the live register, for reasons I am sure the Deputy appreciates and understands. JobBridge is not for everybody, and I never claimed it was. It is a specific initiative providing 5,000 places over a two year period. It is very heavily subscribed, as the Deputy knows, and the feedback from it is quite positive. An evaluation mechanism to be put in place has gone to tender.

I am keeping the scheme under constant review. I am aware that some members of the Deputy's party are immensely critical of it, but it has a valuable role for people who are caught in the catch-22 situation of being unable to get a job because they do not have experience and being unable to acquire experience because they cannot get a job.