Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach if his Department have recruited new staff recently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35204/14]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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5. To ask the Taoiseach the position regarding JobBridge interns in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35667/14]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach the number of staff vacancies in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37634/14]

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach the number of JobBridge participants who have worked in his Department. [43816/14]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 7, inclusive, together.

My Department recently recruited two administrative officers, three temporary clerical officers and a service attendant. My Department operates within an employment control framework ceiling of 181 which was determined by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The Department currently has a whole-time equivalent staff of 179.98.

My Department recently assumed some new responsibilities following the assignment of Ministers of State with responsibility for the diaspora, data protection and the Irish Financial Services Centre. Some additional resources are being assigned to meet these responsibilities, in part through secondment of staff from elsewhere in the Civil Service. There are also currently two JobBridge interns in my Department on nine-month internships.

Since 2012 my Department has hosted eight internships under the JobBridge national internship scheme. The internships have all been in policy divisions within the Department of the Taoiseach. The work experience given to our JobBridge interns includes research, communications, policy analysis, summarising of data, report drafting and networking. JobBridge interns are given training in desk research and information gathering. They also work with internal document management systems, perform data entry and apply themselves to financial management, general administration and other office duties. Interns are given practical experience of how central Government works and learn about policy-making structures and initiatives across Government Departments. Broadly, JobBridge interns get hands-on experience in various aspects of the work of my Department and leave with an enhanced understanding of Government policy. In line with the JobBridge scheme requirements, each intern is assigned a mentor during his or her full internship in my Department. At the end of their internships and, again, in line with JobBridge scheme requirements, interns are given a reference and a host organisation evaluation form for their own use. The JobBridge internship scheme has, to date, proven rewarding both for participating interns and for my Department.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. There must have been glee among the civil servants when the tally was done and it was found that the number of whole-time equivalent staff stood at 179.98, given that the ceiling is set at 181. The real issue here is the JobBridge scheme. Across the economy there is a sense that the JobBridge scheme has been abused, though I do not suggest that this applies to the Taoiseach's Department. It is felt that real jobs have been taken by JobBridge interns who, in turn, will not have a chance to get the job at the end of a nine- or 12-month stint. Some schools have applied for special needs assistants through the JobBridge scheme.

Does the Taoiseach accept that where vacancies arise they should be filled as real jobs? This applies across the board but particularly in the public service. JobBridge should not be abused to fill vacancies. Have the pathways to work of the eight JobBridge interns hosted by the Department been evaluated? I do not doubt that it can be a fruitful and beneficial experience to work as an intern at the Department of the Taoiseach, but I would also like to think it could lead to employment prospects in both the public and private sectors. Does the Taoiseach have figures relating to the pathways to work of JobBridge interns across Government Departments and the Civil Service? How have these interns developed in terms of employment opportunities?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Interns come to work for the Department on the basis that they understand the moratorium on recruitment, and I believe this applies across the public service. The random inspection regime on JobBridge internships shows that very few interns are dissatisfied with the scheme. Some 97% of all JobBridge inspections find that the scheme's requirements are fully satisfied. A total of 330 interns, including 24 who are currently active, have been hosted in Government Departments. Jobseekers who apply for internships in the public sector do so knowing there is a moratorium on recruitment. Potential interns choose which internships to apply for based on their own needs, intentions and aspirations. Internships in the public sector are highly regarded and are an asset to jobseekers who subsequently seek private sector employment.

I have met a number of interns in various areas of the public service and in different Departments and I have also met interns in private enterprise. The vast majority enjoy the experience and find it improves their CVs. An internship can give a person the motivation and incentive to develop particular skills, and many interns go on to set up companies or be recruited on a full-time basis. Obviously, this happens more often in the private sector than in the public sector. The interns I spoke to in the Department of the Taoiseach enjoyed the experience and found it gave a sense of job satisfaction and an opportunity to gain employment.

I think the Deputy asked me about costs, but I do not have the figures.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I asked whether there had been any evaluation of the 330 interns across the public service. Where have they gone? Has anyone analysed whether the scheme is working in terms of employability? The original idea was that the skills and experience acquired by JobBridge participants would give them a chance of a job after the internship, if not in the public service then in the private sector.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am sure such an evaluation has been done. Of the 330 interns who went through the system in various locations in Departments, 97% deemed it to be a very satisfactory and enjoyable experience. I am sure an analysis has been carried out on where these interns went afterwards and whether they gained permanent employment, be it in the private sector or by starting a business. I will forward that information to Deputy Martin.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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In recent years quite a number of workers have joined the public sector on insecure temporary contracts and have been retained on successive contracts beyond the permissible period. When such workers took legal cases seeking permanent status, they succeeded, but were then granted conditions of employment inferior to those in their original contracts. Are any such workers employed by the Department of the Taoiseach?

The Taoiseach should be aware that JobBridge has been discredited by ordinary people, despite the fact that he lauded the scheme highly in this House. JobBridge has been used to provide cheap labour to private companies and, more recently, the public sector. School secretaries, special needs assistants and public sector cleaners have been taken on through JobBridge, so it is just a source of cheap labour.

Is it not fraudulent, for example, in the Taoiseach's Department or any public sector Department, to take on internships or internees under that scheme when one of the factors that has been put forward in favour of it is that JobBridge interns may get employment with the host company? That is impossible in the public sector. They cannot get employment because of the barrier, in place up to recently in any case, in the public sector, including in the Taoiseach's Department.

In reality the Taoiseach is flattering people to deceive. Why would they not profess themselves delighted if the Taoiseach happened to meet them in the corridor? There are hardly going to complain to the Taoiseach about it. The reality is that it is cheap labour. It is filling gaps that should be filled by permanent full-time staff. It is filling the gaps left by the reduction in public sector numbers over the years. Worst of all is the Gateway project under which hundreds of workers on the dole are to be taken on by local authorities to work for nothing in reality. They will be doing jobs that should be done and would have been done previously by full-time public sector or local authority workers. We should call things by their names. I call on the Taoiseach to respond.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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We are talking about Department of the Taoiseach staff and the number of interns in the Department and throughout the public service in general. Deputy Higgins made the point about whether this scheme was exploitative. I agree with Deputy Higgins that there were several cases that should not have been advertised as JobBridge positions. It is important to note that this scheme is monitored rigorously by the Department of Social Protection. That is why the cleaner, caretaker and the teaching assistant posts were removed from the JobBridge list. They should not have been there in the first place.

I believe in the national JobBridge internship scheme. It came about as a result of recommendations from the private and public sectors arising from the situation whereby young qualified people were unable to get jobs because they did not have any experience and they could not get any experience if the did not have a job. JobBridge is what it says: it is a bridge to a job for a more permanent and better range of employment. The scheme also gives unemployed people a chance to match and increase their skills so that they can learn through practical experience and on-the-job coaching and mentoring.

The figures released by the Tánaiste recently show that since the introduction of the scheme in 2011, a total of 33,068 internship placements have commenced to date, that there are 6,238 jobseekers currently on placements and that a further 2,659 posts are advertised currently on the JobBridge website. A total of 330 interns, including the 24 now active, have been employed by Departments. I am sure that either the Department of Social Protection or the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform have undertaken an analysis of those who have gone through the system, how they are being tracked, where they are now, whether they are employed and whatever else.

While I agree with Deputy Higgins that several cases were put up on the JobBridge website that were not in accordance with the terms of the scheme, it is being monitored by the Department of Social Protection and those inferior positions that were advertised were taken down and removed. The numbers speak for themselves.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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What is the difference between the scheme and Government policy?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Higgins should speak to the young people who have gone through the JobBridge system. The vast majority have had a very satisfactory experience and have used it to better themselves. That is what it was intended for. There will always be numbers who might not have got the best from the scheme in terms of where they were employed or what they actually did. However, the point was that young qualified people, people able to perform certain tasks and upskill themselves, were unable to get those opportunities because they could not get a job. That is what the JobBridge scheme is about.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I agree with the Taoiseach. I imagine there are individuals who have had a positive experience but the shortfalls of the JobBridge scheme are now well documented. The intern posts displace existing work. They do not bring about real job creation. They depress wages and exacerbate unemployment. I imagine it would be a fruitful experience for anyone to work in the Taoiseach's Department. It would be a rewarding experience, particularly for a young person, but it is the question of what happens to them afterwards. We should remember that this State has the largest number of young people not in work, education or training throughout the EU. That is the reality of our youth unemployment figures.

An Seanadóir Kathryn Reilly has done a report, Youth Matters. I will send a copy to the Taoiseach if he has not read it. It examines critical youth issues, including the Youth Guarantee. There is little provision for young people with disabilities or lone parents or carers and the report examines this too.

JobBridge should be done away with. Sinn Féin has put forward suggestions on who we could be actively promoting JobsPlus, which is about getting people into employment via a scheme as opposed to for a temporary period as interns. Reference was made to what happens to them next. Does the Department of the Taoiseach track the young people who have been in the Department as interns? Can the Taoiseach give the Dáil some sense of how they got on afterwards and whether they got into meaningful employment with proper terms and conditions?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I put a question to the Taoiseach earlier relating to evaluations. He said that if he has any information he will bring it to me. I am surprised that there is no evaluation dimension built in as part of an application to the public service and Departments in particular under the JobBridge scheme. In other words, given that 330 interns have gone through the various Departments, I am surprised no one is following up, if only for research purposes and to validate whether the scheme is of value.

I imagine anyone working in the Department of the Taoiseach would find it a valuable experience. However, what interests most people is the degree to which the scheme actually enables and facilitates a person to enhance his capacity to get a job subsequently. It would be worthwhile if someone could evaluate what has happened to the 330 people.

I asked the Taoiseach about the wider dimension to JobBridge and the degree to which it has been abused by quite a number of companies. I have come across a case in which the third JobBridge applicant is now going into the same position; in other words there has been a JobBridge person there before and another before him in turn. Clearly a job is being filled and the scheme is being abused.

I understand the Government has taken a number of companies off the JobBridge list because they have abused it. Deputy O'Dea has been pushing the matter but for some reason the Government is refusing to publish the list of companies that have been taken off the JobBridge scheme because of abusing it. It would help people's confidence in the initiative if there was full transparency in terms of how the scheme is operating and, in that context, companies that, the Department is satisfied, have abused the scheme. The list should be published. It would act as a deterrent to others from abusing the scheme as well.

I have no doubt that the participants in the Department of the Taoiseach have enjoyed it and benefitted from it but we would like to know more about others who did not have the chance or the good fortune to have been employed as an intern in the Taoiseach's office or other offices. They may have been in the private sector and did not enjoy the same experience. As a first step, will the Taoiseach agree to or consider the idea of publishing the companies that have been taken off the JobBridge list or which have been prevented from participating in future because of their abuse of the scheme?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Adams asked about youth employment and unemployment, which are issues not only here but also in other countries in Europe. During our own Presidency, we promoted very strongly the concept of the Youth Guarantee. Significant moneys were made available in that regard, although they are not such as to deal with anything like the scale of the challenge presented by the overall context. However, it was a reasonable start to the process. The Government has changed the nature of the training agency with SOLAS having replaced FÁS to provide a more practical, skills-based and futuristic approach to what is needed. That is reflected in the nature of the way that training is provided for young people in the hope that they will have a better opportunity to get meaningful employment.

I was asked if the Department had ever refused or terminated a JobBridge internship.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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No, I did not ask that.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I will come to it. The answer in my own case is that none of those ever happened in the Department of the Taoiseach. While two internships ended before their nine month completion, one was where an intern got permanent employment and the other for the participant's own reason.

The Department of Social Protection conducts random inspections of companies that participate in the JobBridge scheme. Those inspections show that 97% are very happy in what they do. However, 44 host organisations out of approximately 15,000 have been excluded from further use of the scheme. I have not published the names as it has been deemed inappropriate under the Freedom of Information Acts to release the names of companies that have been excluded from taking on JobBridge interns. As I said, 44 of 15,000 have been excluded. As in all cases in which a decision has been made not to release certain information following a freedom of information request, the requester is fully entitled to appeal that decision in accordance with the provisions of the legislation. I do not know the names of the 44 companies that have been excluded but anyone who writes in and is refused the information has the opportunity to appeal.