Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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602. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of students who undertook work experience or internships with State and semi-State agencies under her aegis in 2019; the cost in terms of wages and allowances; and the estimated numerical capacity of State and semi-State agencies to provide work experience and internships on an annual basis. [12962/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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There are two agencies under the aegis of my Department - the Citizens Information Board (CIB) and the Pensions Authority.

Two students undertook unpaid work experience in The Pensions Authority in 2019. The work experience was for a period of two weeks in one case and for a period of one day in the other. The Pensions Authority have the capacity to provide unpaid work experience in the future on an ad-hoc basis.

No students undertook work experience or internships in The Citizens Information Board in 2019. CIB would be open to exploring a work experience or internship scheme for students, but given the constraints of the salary budget, this would most likely have to be unpaid. CIB has no plans at present for a work experience or internship scheme.