Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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173. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons who are employed on JobBridge schemes in the public sector; if she will provide a breakdown of these staff by county since the scheme commenced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47819/13]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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176. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide, in tabular form, the exact number of persons who signed up for the JobBridge scheme in County Westmeath; the exact number of persons who received employment from these internships in County Westmeath; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47954/13]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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198. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views on making changes to the JobBridge scheme such as opening up the scheme to persons who are signing for credits but not receiving a social welfare payment or allowing participants on the scheme to supplement their income by engaging in casual part-time evening or weekend work and still retain their full payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47984/13]

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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214. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she is aware that contractors receiving funds from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to install water meters across the State ostensibly so that they can employ people to install said meters can simultaneously obtain workers on the JobBridge scheme funded by the Department of Social Protection leading to a situation where contractors can retain more profit from the funds that they receive from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. [48187/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 173, 176, 198 and 214 together.

I set out below a table showing the number of persons who participated in JobBridge in the Public Sector by county since the scheme commenced.

Since JobBridge came into operation on 1^st July, 2011, 543 individuals have participated on JobBridge in County Westmeath. 150 individuals are currently on internships. 393 individuals have finished their internship. Data from the recent Indecon Evaluation Report indicate that 61% or 240 of the finishers in County Westmeath have progressed into paid employment. In this regard, the progression outcomes into employment from JobBridge are among the very best in Europe.

Persons who are signing for credits but not receiving a social welfare payment are already eligible to participate in JobBridge if they have been signing for credits for 3 months (78 days) out of the last 3 months. While on an internship interns can commence casual employment without affecting their entitlements provided that it is not with the host organisation (i.e. not with the same employer) and it does not interfere with their internship. However, those in receipt of Social Welfare payments and those signing for credits are still subject to the normal rules as regards means testing, availability for work, etc.

As part of their contracts, water meter installation contractors are required to employ a proportion of workers from the live register, graduates and school leavers. In this regard, it is worth highlighting that JobBridge interns are not deemed to be employees as per Section 16 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011 and as such would not count towards fulfilment of this contractual requirement.

Table 1. Number Public Sector interns by County