Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Question 600: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the State agencies under his remit that have an internship scheme in place for young graduates; the number of places available; the take up of these schemes to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20499/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that the position in respect of agencies within my Department's remit is as follows:

Courts Service

The Courts Service does not have its own internship scheme in place for graduates.

The Courts Service has facilitated two interns through the JobBridge Scheme which is run by FÁS. These interns worked in 2011 in the areas of Information and Communications Technology and in Finance.

The Courts Service has links with University College Cork and the University of Limerick whereby undergraduates avail of work experience in Court Offices in Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Waterford. This experience counts for course credits for these undergraduates. There are currently six undergraduates availing of this work experience scheme.

The Courts Service is currently considering the further use of interns in 2012.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal

While the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal did have the services of an intern during 2011, there is none on placement there at present.

Equality Tribunal

The Equality Tribunal provides one internship place under the JobBridge scheme. Two persons have taken up placements to date. The first, an intern at Legal Research Assistant level completed a full 9 month placement in January 2012. A second person has started in April 2012 in a Legal Assistant role.

Irish Human Rights Commission

The Human Rights Commission has four internship schemes. Since being introduced in 2008, 33 persons have availed of internships with the Commission. 18 persons have been placed on the Commission's Internship Programme for recent graduates and 10 on the Professional Placement programme for professionals looking to increase their experience, with these placements being for 4 months on a full time basis. In addition, 3 internships were arranged for persons from overseas Colleges, and two persons have been placed through the JobBridge Programme (National Internship Scheme). 4 interns are currently placed with the Commission.

Irish Prison Service

To date 9 persons have taken up JobBridge placements with the Irish Prison Service and these were assigned through my Department's Human Resources Division.

Legal Aid Board

While the Legal Aid Board does not have a formal internship scheme in place, it does participate actively in the National Internship Scheme (JobBridge). The Board currently has eight solicitors and four administrative staff on internships through that scheme.

National Disability Authority

The National Disability Authority (NDA) does not have a graduate intern scheme but has availed of interns via the Job

Bridge and Work Placement Programme (WPP1) Scheme. The NDA currently has one intern from the Job Bridge Scheme who will be retained until October 2012 and has had one intern under the WPP1 Scheme whose placement terminated in February 2012.

Office of the Data Protection Commissioner

While the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has had a practice in the past of taking one law undergraduate from University College Cork for a period of approximately four weeks each year, it is now participating in the Job Bridge Scheme and currently has two law graduates on placement as part of that scheme. The Office also from time to time takes applications from graduates with relevant qualifications/experience on an ad hoc basis for a period of weeks to provide them with relevant work experience.

Private Security Authority

The Private Security Authority (PSA) has participated in the Job Bridge Scheme and two graduates have availed of this scheme with the PSA to date. Both have completed their internships with the PSA and their work during their period of internship with the Authority has proven to be of great benefit to both the Authority and the interns concerned. The requirement for graduate interns is project-driven and currently there are no projects where the input of these persons is required.

The Deputy might also be interested to note the following information in respect of placements made by my Department's Human Resources Division across the Department.

My Department has been offering temporary work experience opportunities for a number of years through an Intern Scheme and under the FÁS Work Placement Programme, focusing primarily, but not exclusively, on law graduates and final year law students.

Since July 2011, my Department has been actively engaging in the Government's new National Internship Scheme (JobBridge) as referred to earlier. My Department has advertised internship opportunities across a range of vocational areas including the areas of legislation, statistics, procurement, customer relations and general administration. To date 39 individuals, 21 of whom were graduates and some of whom, as already indicated, were assigned to the agencies referred to above, have taken up JobBridge placements in my Department across a number of areas including those dealing with immigration, asylum and citizenship, courts policy, domestic and gender based violence, crime and anti-human trafficking. In all cases a mentor has been appointed to the intern to provide support and guidance and to ensure that he/she benefits from specific learning outcomes associated with that internship opportunity.

Finally, I believe that the National Internship Scheme (JobBridge) provides opportunities for my Department, and the Civil Service generally, to assist in the process of national recovery. My Department can provide significant and in some cases challenging job experience opportunities to persons in need of such opportunities and better prepare them for either re-entry to the jobs market or a change in job direction.