The primary purpose of the students summer jobs scheme since its inception in 1993 has been to provide financial help to less well-off third level students who do not have access to unemployment payments during the summer. The scheme allows students to take up part-time work useful to their community and to receive payment for this work. Local groups with projects in their communities can register with the Department as sponsors. The main focus of the scheme is on providing the students concerned with an income and not necessarily to fill all the jobs offered by sponsors.
A total of 15,600 students availed of the scheme in 1997, 13,600 in 1998 and 9,299 in 1999. The number of projects made available by sponsors for each of those three years was 30,189, 31,552 and 23,473, respectively.
While the level of projects offered has remained high over recent years, there has been a significant decline in the number of students taking part. This is due to the wider availability of summer jobs, which is a very welcome development and has diminished the necessity for the scheme as a means of financial support to needy students.
The target group for the scheme is third level students. I do not intend to extend this to students at second level. There would be significant cost implications in such a move and these could only be considered in a budgetary context. Furthermore, bearing in mind the purpose of the scheme, there is no justification for extending it in a situation where the number of job opportunities is increasing and employers are finding it difficult to fill them.