Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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242. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views that JobBridge positions recently advertised in (details supplied) County Donegal are internships and not jobs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12015/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The purpose of JobBridge is to help unemployed jobseekers break the cycle whereby they cannot find a job without appropriate experience but cannot find appropriate experience without a job. To date it has been very successful in delivering on this objective with this success being partly attributable to the wide variety of internship opportunities that it supports.

Given that unemployed jobseekers are drawn from many walks of life and have varying levels of work experience and educational qualifications it is essential that Internship opportunities cover many occupations/disciplines from high skill specialist placements to lower skilled general placements. Therefore JobBridge opportunities are not confined to the type internships that were, and continue to be a feature of, some 'white collar' professions. I am satisfied that the positions referred to can offer valuable work experience to some jobseekers and can, subject to all other conditions of the JobBridge scheme being satisfied, form the basis of a JobBridge internship.

I would also point out that JobBridge is a voluntary scheme. There is no obligation on a Jobseeker to participate in the scheme or to take up any particular internship. Interns choose to participate and choose the host organisation they wish to work for.