Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons who have had their attention brought to a job (details supplied) by her Department; the number of jobs outside the island of Ireland her Department has brought to the attention of job-seekers; and if she will list the countries in which her Department has brought jobs to the attention of job-seekers. [16538/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Ireland, through the Department of Social Protection, is part of the European Employment Service network, Eures. Eures was established by the European Commission in 1993 to facilitate the free movement of workers throughout the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA). Freedom of movement of workers is one of the four freedoms established under the Maastricht treaty in 1992. This involves all member states exchanging job vacancies with each other and ensuring that job vacancies in Europe are available to all citizens/job seekers of Europe.

We received a request from the Public Employment Service in Malta on 19 February to assist them fill up to 200 jobs for bus drivers in Malta. In addition to advertising the jobs, we identified 320 jobseekers who, according to our records had the necessary qualifications to be considered for these jobs. We subsequently wrote to these jobseekers advising them of the availability of the jobs and 33 responded with applications for the positions and interviews are currently being organised for 22 of these candidates. All jobs advertised by the Public Employment Services of the Member States are advertised on the Eures portal and are made available to every citizen of EU/EEA on an equal basis. Currently there are over 1 million vacancies available. Although, there is no compulsion on jobseekers to apply for such jobs, it is important that they are aware of, and have the opportunity to compete for jobs in other countries. The Department for its part has a duty and a responsibility to ensure that jobseekers in Ireland are not disadvantaged relative to jobseekers in other countries.