Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the payments available to students who are unable to work due to full time college sanctioned unpaid internship placements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17059/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Social welfare legislation provides that a person must satisfy the conditions of being available for and genuinely seeking work in order to be entitled to jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance. Any person who fails to satisfy these conditions is not entitled to a jobseeker’s payment.

A student undergoing a full-time course of study, instruction or training is disqualified for receiving jobseekers allowance or benefit. This disqualification also extends to the holiday periods, including the summer holidays. The disqualification for receipt of jobseeker’s benefit or allowance does not apply in the case of mature students during the period between two academic years. During this period a mature student can apply for jobseeker’s benefit or allowance, subject to satisfying the standard qualifying conditions, including that of being available for full-time work.

There are no plans to change these aspects of the jobseeker’s schemes.

It may be noted that JobBridge, the national internship scheme was established to provide people with valuable work experience. The aim of the national internship scheme is to assist in breaking the cycle where jobseekers are unable to get a job without experience, either as new entrants to the labour market after education or training or as unemployed workers wishing to learn new skills. The scheme also gives people a real opportunity to gain valuable experience to bridge the gap between study and the beginning of their working lives.