John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

At the outset, I wish to say that I am a supporter of the JobBridge internship scheme and I will continue to support it. International evidence and experience shows that internship schemes play a very important role in supporting labour forces. The experience in Ireland has shown that 63% of people who take part in JobBridge schemes enter the workforce at the end of it, not necessarily in the jobs they are doing as an intern. The internship scheme is evidence that it is more advantageous to be involved in the workforce than not to be involved in the workforce.

However, I am very alarmed to hear this morning that 168 internees are being employed in the educational system in various roles, including SNAs, school secretaries and caretakers. There is a real suspicion that this could be seen as an instance of displacement of workforce. The internship scheme was never intended to be used in this manner. I ask the Leader if we could get a statement from the Minister in this regard. I believe the internship scheme is so important to our economic recovery that anything that goes to undermine the credibility of the scheme needs to be resisted. I believe that 18% of recently recruited internships are in the educational system, which is unacceptable. I do not blame school principals for taking the opportunity to recruit additional help in the classroom and around the schools; that is not the point I am making. However, we need to take a fundamental look at how the internship scheme is working.