Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will refer to the qualifying criteria for employers who wish to partake in job bridge national internship scheme; if tax-compliant self-employed persons who have no employees/cannot afford to take on an employee qualify for the internship scheme and if not, the number of self-employed persons in this category who have applied to be included in the scheme and if she will consider extending qualifying criteria to include self-employed persons in this category in the job bridge internship scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48395/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The National Internship Scheme, JobBridge, was launched on 1^st July 2011. It provides internship opportunities of either 6 or 9 months for unemployed individuals at all skills levels. The aim of JobBridge is to assist individuals in breaking the cycle where they are unable to get a job without experience. It provides them with an opportunity to gain valuable experience, relevant knowledge and skills within a working environment. The Scheme is open to organisations in the private, public and community or voluntary sectors.

The JobBridge Scheme has made significant progress to-date since it came into operation on 1^st July 2011. 11,671 internships have commenced to date with 5,262 participants currently on an internship as at 1^st November 2012 and 1,879 opportunities presently advertised on .

A clear set of rules have been developed and are in operation to protect the intern and safeguard JobBridge from potential abuse. Thus, in order for an organisation to participate on JobBridge, one of the key conditions is that an organisation or self-employed person must have a minimum of 1 full time employee who is employed for 30 hours or more per week (i.e. on payroll and subject to tax and PRSI). A host organisation participating in JobBridge must be in a position to provide a substantial commitment to their intern so as to ensure the provision of a quality internship. It is important that strong mentoring and support is available for the intern and that they can improve their skills and knowledge while working with other colleagues in a team environment.

Potential host organisations can avail of the JobBridge guidelines and full eligibility criteria which are available on the JobBridge website .

I wish to further highlight that an independent evaluation of the Scheme is currently being undertaken by Indecon International Economic Consultants. This evaluation will assess the design, delivery and impact of the JobBridge Scheme; it will provide details of the nature of the work experience of the participants; a measurement of the relevance of that experience to the labour market and progression into employment. It is anticipated that the final report will be published in late December. This Report will also present recommendations on how the Scheme might be improved. It is at this stage that further consideration will be given to amending the terms and conditions of the Scheme including the specific matters raised by the Deputy.