Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The national internship scheme, JobBridge, was launched on 1 July 2011. Therefore, we are approaching the first anniversary. In practice, as Senator O'Brien is probably aware, the first internships took place in September of last year. The scheme is open to organisations in the private, public and community and voluntary sectors. I thank the significant number of firms, particularly in the private sector, that offered to host interns. There has been much criticism of the scheme but, by and large, the feedback from participants has been extremely positive. Those who have monitored the scheme extensively on social media have in many ways done a public service because I do not believe they appreciated initially that the scheme is not just for graduates. When people use the phrase "intern", they often believe it pertains only to graduates. I was always very interested in having no age limit, other than that one must be over 18, and no qualification limit such that different people at different levels would be able to obtain experience. More than 15,000 employers of various kinds have offered to host interns. This indicates the pent-up interest among employers to give people an opportunity. The feedback has been positive.

The scheme provides internship opportunities of either six or nine months for unemployed individuals at all skill levels. It aims to assist individuals in breaking the cycle where they are unable to get a job without experience by providing them with an opportunity to gain valuable experience, relevant knowledge and skills within a working environment.

To date, the scheme has made significant progress. Slightly more than 8,000 internship placements have commenced since the launch of JobBridge in July 2011. Our target was to have 5,000 placements commenced within one year. While the scheme has its critics, it has clearly been popular. There are currently 4,896 interns undertaking internship placements and in excess of 2,000 internship posts are currently advertised on the JobBridge website at www.jobbridge.ie. These figures show the strong level of interest in the scheme, both from a host organisation perspective and the perspective of prospective interns.

JobBridge is the first initiative to be rolled out under the new national employment and entitlements service, NEES, which is a key commitment in the programme for Government. In assisting individuals to 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. It aims to offer individuals of all skill levels, ranging from those who left school early to highly qualified graduates, a unique opportunity to develop new skills to complement their existing skills and to earn valuable experience. I have met graduates, postgraduates and even a number of individuals with post-doctorate qualifications who are participating in the programme. On completing their internship, participants will have much improved their prospects of securing employment. In the current labour market environment JobBridge provides individuals with a unique opportunity to secure work experience in a new field and enables people to break the cycle. For instance, an internship may provide unemployed workers with skills acquired in construction, a sector which has lost many jobs, with an opportunity to try a new field.

The establishment of the national employment and entitlements service, under the management of the Department of Social Protection, is a crucial element of our improved targeting of resources for work placement, training and education for the unemployed. I am confident the service will provide the framework within which the reinvigorated national employment action plan will deliver activation policies and priorities.

The current guidelines governing JobBridge provide that a participant may avail of a placement on an internship work experience opportunity for a period of six months - 26 weeks - or nine months - 39 weeks. It is a matter for the host organisation to advertise the proposed duration of the placement, which is completely at its discretion. I understand the majority of host organisations offer the longer period of nine months or 39 weeks. Many employers have told me they would like the internships to be longer than nine months. In this context, it is important to note that an internship opportunity is intended to act as a probationary period to establish if the intern is suitable to take up a permanent role with the host organisation. It is not intended to act as a probationary period to determine if the intern is suitable to undertake a further period of internship with the same company. For this reason, host organisations need to make a decision on the duration of the internship before it commences.

Overall, it is important to note that individuals may avail of a maximum of two JobBridge internships. However, the total cumulative time may not exceed nine months or 39 weeks over the two year period. Employers who retain JobBridge interns in paid employment, of whom there are a significant number, receive an 18 month holiday in respect of employer PRSI. This benefit appears to be little known among employers and I am anxious to ensure they become aware of the significant saving that can be made from taking on a person on a paid basis.

My Department continues to monitor and review the operation of the JobBridge scheme. We have appointed external consultants to carry out an independent evaluation of the scheme. I am anxious that all labour market activation schemes are subject to real time evaluation. In the past, much of the evaluation of schemes occurred several years after people have completed the relevant programme. The external evaluation of JobBridge has already commenced.