Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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310. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will consider lifting the public service recruitment embargo to facilitate offers of employment to JobBridge interns where the scheme is being repeatedly used by Government Departments to fill positions where an ongoing need has been identified. [2907/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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There is no embargo on recruitment to the public service. There are restrictions and there are targets to reduce, in overall terms, the numbers employed in the public service, but there has also been and will continue to be recruitment into key positions across the system - in health, in education, in some areas of the Civil Service and most recently in An Garda.  Recruitment into these positions is open to all suitable candidates, including those who are availing of JobBridge.

The JobBridge initiative, which is run by the Department of Social Protection, provides work experience placements for interns for a 6 or 9 month period. The key goal of JobBridge is to assist jobseekers in gaining valuable work experience, either as new entrants to the labour market after education or training or as unemployed workers seeking to learn new skills. The purpose of the scheme is to give people an opportunity to gain experience and skills that will help them find permanent employment, and it has proven very effective in that regard. The purpose of the scheme is not for employers to fill existing vacancies.