Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 63: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if any scheme is in place through which persons working part-time will be considered for an internship for the purposes of improving their employability. [14777/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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In order to qualify for an internship, an individual must be in receipt of a live jobseeker's claim and have been in receipt of jobseeker's allowance or jobseeker's benefit, or signing for credits, for a minimum of 78 days in the previous six months. Time spent on certain government sponsored training may also be taken into account when calculating eligibility.

Providing they fulfil all JobBridge eligibility criteria regarding jobseeker's allowance/benefit, persons in part-time employment can participate in JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme provided that their employer is not the provider of the internship. The intern must advise their local Social Welfare office of their continued part-time employment while undertaking an internship.

A standard Internship working week will range from 30 -40 hours per week. Therefore an intern will be required to participate on the scheme for a minimum of 30 hours and a maximum of 40 hours per week. Hence, an additional requirement is that the part-time employment does not interfere with the minimum weekly hours (thirty) of the internship.

My Department continues to monitor and review the eligibility criteria for the JobBridge programme on an ongoing basis.

Individuals who are not in receipt of social welfare payments and are working part-time may also access the Work Placement Programme wherein there is a minimum requirement to work 25 hours per week with a Host Organisation.