Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection if consideration is being given to add any additional categories to the job activation initiatives including those who are available for work but not entitled to a payment that will give them access to internship's or other upskilling opportunities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41307/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Given the scale of the unemployment crisis, the key objective of activation policy and labour market initiatives is to keep those in receipt of a live jobseeker’s claim close to the labour market and prevent the drift into long-term unemployment. This policy objective prioritises scarce resources to those in receipt of a live claim so as to increase their chances of gaining employment thereby ensuring a reduction in Exchequer costs over time.

For the reasons outlined above, the JobBridge national internship scheme, in common with most labour market programmes, is currently open only to those in receipt of certain welfare payments. However, all aspects of the scheme including eligibility criteria will be reviewed following the forthcoming independent evaluation of the scheme.

Unemployed persons not in receipt of payments may be eligible to avail of up-skilling opportunities, for example through FÁS training, but are not eligible to receive a training allowance while undertaking such training.