Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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279. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the guidelines that apply to State bodies, such as vocational education committees, when hiring JobBridge applicants; the measures in place to ensure the system is not abused by, for example, a VEC rehiring a different JobBridge applicant each term; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32868/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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In order to protect the Intern and to ensure the integrity of the JobBridge Scheme a variety of control measures and criteria have been introduced. These are designed to try to ensure that the internship does not displace an existing position; that it provides appropriate training and development experience; and that appropriate mentoring and support is provided to the Intern. Under the current guidelines, upon the conclusion of an internship position a cooling off period of 6 months must elapse before a Host Organisation, including state bodies such as VECs, can re-advertise either this position or another placement in the same area of activity. This procedure is in place to prevent potential displacement arising. The cooling off period is longer than any vacation period in the VEC calendar.