Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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144. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of unpaid internships issued and-or granted to persons to work in his Department over the past five years to 28 August 2019; the number of persons who took up unpaid internship roles in that timeframe; if his Department continues to offer unpaid internships; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36148/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that the Department of Finance does not offer unpaid internships.

The Economics Division of the Department of Finance has offered a twelve week paid internship to the successful candidate in its Economic Policy Competition each year since 2014. This is an essay-based competition that assesses undergraduate students’ understanding of the Irish economy. The Department engages directly with third- level institutions to advertise the Economic Policy Competition and to target it to final year and penultimate year students. Candidates are required to submit a 150-word summary with a supporting 2,000-word submission on one of two policy questions that are provided by the Department. The Department accepts a maximum of three submissions from each participating institution – individual applications are not accepted. The Department invites the students with the top submissions for interview, from which the winner of the competition is chosen.  

Details of the 2019 Competition are available on the Department’s website at: It is expected that the 2020 Competition will be launched in the coming weeks.