Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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512. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if JobBridge internships for special needs assistants comply with JobBridge criteria, particularly regarding the prospect of paid employment after the internship has ended; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36870/14]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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513. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the job description of JobBridge special needs assistants internships include general helping out duties in the school, such as administration and classroom assistance which are not job descriptions for SNAs according to her Department circular 0030/2014; the reason there are disparities between the job descriptions and responsibilities for JobBridge SNA internships and existing SNAs employed by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36871/14]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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514. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the members of school staff who will be responsible for the mentorship for JobBridge special needs assistants during their internship; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36872/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 512 to 514, inclusive, together.

Circular Letter 46 of 2011 issued by my Department in October 2011 authorised recognised schools and Vocational Educational Committees (VECs) now Educational Training Boards (ETBs) to participate in the National Internship Scheme- JobBridge which is administered and funded by the Department of Social Protection. The mentoring of the JobBridge intern is a matter for the employer.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. The criteria by which SNA support is allocated to pupils is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.

Once an SNA allocation has been made, the recruitment and deployment of SNAs are matters for the individual employer. The allocation of SNA support can change from year to year and may increase or decrease as students who qualify for SNA support enrol, leave or care needs change.

The aim of JobBridge 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. Participation in the JobBridge scheme is entirely voluntary and schools may apply for internships in whichever area they deem appropriate. Participating schools must comply with Department of Social Protection requirements for Host Organisations and also with the guidelines issued by my Department.

The Department of Social Protection have informed me that in order to protect the JobBridge intern and to ensure the integrity of JobBridge, they have introduced a variety of control measures and criteria. These 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. In addition to the initial vetting of advertisements and the requirement for the host organisation to participate in monthly compliance reporting, the Department of Social Protection has on-going monitoring of internships. This involves the regular review of monthly compliance reports and the conducting of monitoring site visits to facilitate discussions with both parties to the internship. These monitoring visits comprise a combination of randomised visits/inspections with host organisations and of the investigation of complaints received from interns or concerned individuals.

The Department of Social Protection also applies a six-month cooling off period to host organisations upon the completion of an internship. This cooling off period prohibits organisations from taking on an intern in the same area of activity as the previous internship for a period of six months, except where the intern moves directly into employment. This prevents organisations from perpetually filling a role with consecutive interns.