Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 183: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the skills development and internship programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7735/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Internship Development Programme aims to provide those who are at least three months unemployed with a 12 month work placement in a host organisation. This will enable the unemployed maintain their links with the labour market while also facilitating their upskilling and reskilling, thereby improving their employability. Whilst on the work placement element of the internship, interns will receive an 'upskilling bonus' in addition to their social welfare entitlements. State support for an initial 5,000 internship places on the programme has been approved, however, the number of places on the programme is entirely dependant on the level of take up by participating organisations.

A call for Expressions of Interest to organisations that may be interested in providing internship opportunities to the unemployed was issued by FÁS Employment Services. The purpose of this call is to assess the number of internship opportunities and the number of host organisations who wish to participate in the Internship Development Programme. To date over 169 organisations have expressed their interest in participating in the programme. It is expected that the programme will be operational in the near future.