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Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 14 Sep 2011

Vol. 210 No. 1

Adjournment Matters

Health Facilities

The statistics for eating disorders in Ireland are alarming. According to the mental health strategy, A Vision for Change, up to 200,000 people may be affected by eating disorders and an estimated 400 new cases emerge each year. There are, however, fewer than 20 beds available to treat patients with eating disorders between St. John of God Hospital, St. Patrick's Hospital and St. Vincent's Hospital. There are long waiting lists for these beds.

Apart from leading to major health problems such as cardiac dysfunction, osteoporosis and hypothermia, the mortality rate from eating disorders is high. According to A Vision for Change, 80 people die every year from eating disorders in this country. As the American Journal of Psychiatry has highlighted, the aggregate annual rate of mortality associated with anorexia is 12 times higher than the annual death rate due to all causes for females aged between 15 and 24 and more than 200 times higher than the suicide rate of females in the general population.

The programme for Government agreed by Fine Gael and the Labour Party states the Government is committed to reducing the stigma around mental illness, ensuring early and appropriate intervention and vastly improving access to modern mental health services in the community. The need for vastly improved services for people with mental health problems, including eating disorders, has been recognised by the Government. I was therefore genuinely surprised last week, upon visiting the Lois Bridges centre in Sutton and seeing its excellent facilities and the programme the clinic director, Teresa Moorhead, has put in place, to hear the HSE is not fully utilising the service and that none of the private health insurers have agreed to cover it.

Lois Bridges is the first non-hospital based dedicated residential care facility for people with eating disorders in Ireland. It opened in February 2010 and has six residential beds and offers care on a seven day a week basis, focusing on treating the reasons behind an eating disorder. The team includes practitioners in psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy, medical professionals, nurses, social workers, family therapists and dieticians. It covers every angle of support a person needs. As well as residential facilities, it offers a comprehensive outpatient service and aftercare of up to a year for each individual.

It also focuses on supporting and educating a person's family, a service that hospitals often fail to cover. It is important because the patient who goes home needs a supportive environment where those who are important to the patient know how to help him or her, especially if he or she falls back.

Lois Bridges has been approved by the Mental Health Commission. It has been inspected three times so its status is the same as hospital-based facilities. By taking the holistic approach I have outlined, it not only treats the symptoms of the eating disorder — weight loss and associated health problems — it also treats the causes, particularly psychological and emotional causes. As the director explained, many people with eating disorders have had some major trauma in childhood such as sexual abuse, bullying or low self-esteem. Focusing simply on food and calorie counting diverts from dealing with the underlying problems and fails to address the long-term risk factors the patient will face at the next emotional upheaval.

The non-hospital based nature of the centre is crucial. Hospital-based services are important but as eminent experts in the area have pointed out, they also have serious deficiencies. Some of these were highlighted in an excellent article in The Irish Times in which Professor James Locke, the director of the Stanford child and adolescent eating disorder programme of California, pointed out that a person with an eating disorder will gain weight during inpatient care in hospital, which is the immediate medical priority, but once he returns to his home programme, the patient will lose most, if not all the weight he gained in hospital. He has found the patient will gain 20 pounds in hospital but the majority will lose two thirds of this within a few months of returning home. The cost of hospitalisation is enormous and the benefits can be marginal. Lois Bridges, however, can offer a comprehensive service for less than the hospital-based services offered in the Dublin hospitals.

When I was with the director last week, she went through a number of personal stories with me. She outlined the cases of people who are on long waiting lists for places in the hospital and have been told they will have to wait for months. If one had a physical injury like a broken leg, one would want to be in an accident and emergency department straight away. However, people with significant emotional and physical problems are being told they have to wait for months.

I do not understand why the HSE is not utilising this service fully. I appeal to the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, to speak to the Minister for Health and urge him to ensure this service is availed of. The Government should use its influence with the health insurance providers to ensure they start to cover this service. It takes huge courage for people with mental health problems, including eating disorders, to put their hands up and ask for help. Some people have taken that step only to find that help is not available without being placed on a waiting list. They learned that places were available at an excellent facility in Sutton and made the necessary calls, only to be told that funds were not available. That is genuinely a scandal. I hope the Government will do its best to change it.

Before I read a reply on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who cannot be here, I would like to say I am delighted that this issue has been raised by Senator Power. I sincerely hope she does not let it drop. I am aware of the work being done by Ms Teresa Moorhead at the premises mentioned by the Senator. I appreciate that this is a massive issue in Ireland. I have been dealing with it through Ms Joan Barry and her parent support group. I am familiar with girls and young men who have had this problem. Along with my friends, I was able to support such people on a small scale in my former life.

Senator Power was right to say this massive and serious issue is not being dealt with properly. It was raised at our conference last week. I have discussed it with the Minister of State and her predecessor in the past two years. As we prepared to go into government, I worked with the previous Minister of State on this issue. I have no problem with saying the manner in which we treat this issue is totally outdated — it is 100 years behind the times. I expect that the statement I am about to read will not satisfy Senator Power. It sets out where we are today. I know from what the senior Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, said at last week's conference that we will be tackling it.

I appreciate what the Senator said about the Lois Bridges centre, which is a short-term place. The way forward does not involve putting young girls into psychiatric units like St. Patrick's University Hospital. We need to use outpatient facilities and treat people in hospitals for short periods of time. I know several girls who have gone through Marino and into Lois Bridges. They have come out and gone on to get qualifications. The earlier the intervention takes place, the better. I know of cases involving girls as young as nine, ten, 12 or 13. There is no parish in Ireland that does not have a person with an eating disorder. Deaths have taken place. I have dealt with a family in which one girl has already died and a second girl is in trouble. This issue has to be dealt with and it will be dealt with by people like the Minister of State and Deputy Neville.

I cannot say too much about the funding because I do not have the finer details. We cannot afford to wait before we provide assistance to centres like Lois Bridges. I know Ms Teresa Moorhead is away this week. We told her we would have good news of some shape for her. I am pleased that this matter has been raised by Senator Power today. She should take it from here and not let it go. I have spent years working on these services to get them to where they are today. It is ironic that this matter was handed to me this evening. I assure Senator Power that I will work with her day and night. She knows what it is like for the girls who are dealing with this problem.

I am pleased to be here today and to have an opportunity to speak about eating disorders. The national mental health policy document, A Vision for Change, sets out the framework for the development of mental health services generally. The HSE's services for people with eating disorders are embedded in community mental health teams and primary care. The HSE, with Dublin City University, has developed a mental health in primary care accredited training programme for primary care practitioners. The skills included in this programme are designed to enhance the capacity of primary care to recognise, assess and treat a range of mental illnesses within the primary care setting. As individuals with eating disorders frequently present themselves to primary care practitioners with complications of their condition, early intervention at this level greatly improves outcomes.

Community-based adult mental health services receive referrals from primary care and provide assessment and treatment to individuals with eating disorders. Child and adolescent mental health teams provide a similar role for their cohort of referrals. If the individual's psychiatric or medical needs are more acute, inpatient admission is offered within the local psychiatric services or acute medical care where necessary. Following the recommendation of the consultant psychiatrist, the HSE can and has worked with service providers in the independent sector. I know that has happened in some cases, but it does not happen often enough. The HSE and the independent providers have made specialised care available on an inpatient or outpatient basis. The Senator is familiar with centres like that in Marino.

In a limited number of cases, referrals to specialised eating disorder services in Dublin or the UK can be clinically recommended, and supported in appropriate circumstances, subject to the necessary resources being available. In a case in which a person was at death's door, the former Minister, Mary Harney, provided funding for that person to go to the UK. I would like to remember her on that note. HSE child and adolescent acute inpatient units provide evidence-based treatment to young people who require a period of admission by providing multidisciplinary care with dietetic input. Liaison child and adolescent mental health services in paediatric hospitals provide a specialist input during the young person's admission and co-ordinate a treatment programme that may involve admission to a child and adolescent inpatient unit, or interventions provided by the community child and adolescent mental health services.

The HSE also provides funding for Bodywhys, which is the main voluntary organisation that offers services to people with eating disorders. Bodywhys provides a range of supports for health promotion departments throughout the HSE. This interface provides welcome expertise from the user perspective. The situation with regard to services that are covered by private health insurance is that each private health insurance provider in the Irish market has the right to determine which health care providers they will cover for the benefit of their customers. Health insurers operating in a commercial market must choose the providers they cover. It is a matter for each insurer to determine how much capacity in any particular area is purchased by it to deliver the services required by its members.

I assure Senator Power that despite the economic downturn, she and this House can be assured of the Government's ongoing commitment to the development of mental health services in line with A Vision for Change. I reiterate the thanks I have expressed to the Senator for raising this issue, which is on the Government's agenda and is being dealt with by many people in various Departments. The Senator and I are aware that centres like Lois Bridges could be closed by Christmas. I have no problem saying that such a move would be a death sentence. I do not care who argues with me. The manner in which we are treating this problem at the moment is totally unacceptable, is not the way forward and has to change.

I thank the Minister of State for his genuine and honest comments and for the work he has been doing on this issue. Ms Teresa Moorhead told me that the Minister of State has been supporting this facility for a long time. I hope he can convince his colleagues that it needs assistance. Ms Moorhead has told me that it could be closed by Christmas. I hope he can convince his colleagues to back him up. I thank him for putting aside the script for a minute and speaking from the heart. I appreciate that.

Farm Incomes

I listened with interest to the matter raised by Senator Power and the response of the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee. If he can bring half that commitment and enthusiasm to the matter I am raising, we will make progress too. I am asking the Minister of State to report on the Government's current thinking with regard to the future of those who have traditionally been referred to as small farmers. Perhaps that is no longer politically correct and it might be better to refer to land owners with limited land, or something like that.

Earlier this afternoon, the House debated job creation in the presence of the Minister, Deputy Bruton. We all know the scale of the economic development difficulties that are being encountered throughout the country, especially in rural Ireland. We all know that the creation of jobs in towns and rural areas is crucial for the future of this country. Agriculture has always played a significant role in job creation and there was a time when not merely thousands, but tens of thousands of people, were employed on the land. Many of those worked full time on small farms; others worked part time. It created a significant degree of economic activity across the countryside. Obviously, since our accession to the EU the position has changed from an agriculture perspective but the most recent figures would still seem to suggest that, on the basis of there being 120,000 farmers in Ireland, almost 60% of them have less than 30 hectares of land, and there is still a significant number who do not have vast land holdings.

It is important that we do not try to create a two-speed agriculture sector and set large against small. That certainly is not the purpose of my question to the Minister. However, it is opportune, because of the negotiations at Brussels on the future development of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, and the possible changes to agriculture support, to ensure that as far as possible we allow the maximum number of people to remain on the land.

It is obviously important that the larger commercial farmers are fully supported by Europe and the Government. Food production on this island is important, not only for Ireland but for Europe and the world. There is a growing shortage of food on the world market and there must be a significant role for the large commercial units and the large commercial farmers. We must support those people to the maximum extent possible.

Unfortunately, on the other side of the spectrum, because of bureaucracy, red tape and EU regulations, a large number of small farmers have left the land, have even stopped part-time farming and see no future for themselves or their families in farming. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, and his colleagues in government will commit themselves to ensuring that we take whatever policy measures are required to keep the maximum number of those people farming. It is good, not only for agriculture but for rural areas from a social and community perspective. It is part of a big jigsaw. I merely ask that when the Minister of State and his colleagues make the final crucial decisions with our colleagues in Europe on the future funding of agriculture we will still see a role for those with between 40 and 80 acres of land, we will not say they have no future on the land and they are no longer deemed farmers, and we will put in place the measures and structures to keep as many of them farming as possible. That will pay for itself over and over again not only economically but socially and from a community perspective.

I thank Senator Bradford for proposing this motion. My senior Minister, Deputy Coveney, cannot be present to answer and I have a written reply here which I will read. I know from where the Senator is coming. It is on the agenda in both Houses tonight. The one good story out there at present is agriculture, but we cannot sit on it. Prices are good for the first time in several years and, whether one is a big or small farmer, people are getting a fair price for their product. With 2020 coming and the opening up of the doors for production, every acre of Ireland will have a productive use, whether it is in beef, dairy, organics, vegetables or whatever. The senior Minister states clearly everywhere he goes that, since I have been appointed to work with him, we have worked to ensure that all farmers will be well protected and that, in particular, farmers who want to produce food are the ones who will be supported most. There will be no one paid to stay at home anymore because the money is not there.

I am very much aware of the leaks as well. There are two sides to the story and there will be a winner and a loser in it. Now is the time to talk about it. I am sure by the time we take over the Presidency there will be a formula for it because we know how the IFA and the Opposition will keep the pressure on us. We, in Fine Gael, will be ahead of the posse the whole time. That is our intention.

I welcome the opportunity to deal with this motion. As the Senator is well aware, agriculture and the wider agrifood sector remain one of Ireland's most important indigenous manufacturing sectors. Agriculture and the continued viability of the country's 128,000 family farms is hugely important to the economy. It is central to the Government's plan for an export-led economic recovery. A major focus of my Department is to progress this objective. It also supports rural society and has a multiplier effect in terms of social, economic and environmental benefits throughout the country. To put this sector into focus, collectively the industry is responsible for some 136,000 jobs and has an annual output of approximately €22 billion with a significant export orientation running into several billion euros. Most telling, this sector represents 60% of manufacturing exports by indigenous firms.

In the past year, this sector has performed particularly well. The Central Statistics Office figures show that aggregate farm income increased by 28% to €2,010 million in 2010, while the overall value of primary output increased by 12.2% or €22 million to €4,098 million. In 2010, exports of agrifood and drink increased by almost 11% and almost reached €8 billion. This was quite a spectacular performance and one which served to illustrate the undoubted potential of the sector. The good news story of 2010 has continued to date in 2011, with dairy exports increasing by 47% between January and May and exports for the overall sector increasing by 14% in the first six months of 2011. The net effect is that there is a definite air of optimism and positivism in agriculture and the wider agrifood sector.

We are continuing to work on several fronts to maintain the long-term viability of farmers. At EU level, we are working to ensure a well balanced system of agricultural policy. What is needed is a system which will make agriculture more sustainable, will have a focus on its contribution to supplying the food needs of the world and will also sharpen our farm sector's competitive edge. In a nutshell, our view is that the future CAP must aspire to the twin objectives of competitiveness and sustainability. Now, more than ever, we need to focus on ensuring security of supply of safe, high quality and sustainably produced food at reasonable prices for our consumers and with reasonable returns to our farmers and processors.

Senators will be well aware that the recent Commission MFF proposals were the result of detailed policy debates at EU Agriculture Council at which the Minister, Deputy Coveney, vigorously participated. The negotiations were augmented by a vast amount of informal discussion and analysis, at which there was active Irish participation. These detailed and intensive CAP negotiations are continuing at all levels. The aim is that they will be concluded during the Danish Presidency but there is every possibility that they will not be concluded until the eleventh hour and as such will slip into the Irish Presidency in the first half of 2013. The negotiations on the future CAP are therefore of enormous importance for Ireland and the Government is continuing to work to ensure a properly resourced CAP budget which will serve the interests of sustainable and profitable agriculture and the wider agrifood sector.

At national level, Food Harvest 2020 was published last year. This is an ambitious but realistic strategy for growth in the agrifood sector in the next ten years. It was developed in collaboration with the agrifood sector and its delivery will be driven by that sector.

Food Harvest 2020 is playing a huge part in our national economic recovery and has been incorporated into our national recovery plan and our 2011-14 programme for Government. Food Harvest 2020 emphasises the need to enhance competitiveness, increase sustainability and improve marketing strategies to deliver on the growth potential in the sector. This message is encapsulated in the caption "Smart Green Growth".

The growth targets for 2020 set by the committee concerned include the following targets for primary agriculture and industry: increasing the value of primary output by €1.5 billion; increasing value added by €3 billion; and achieving an export target of €12 billion for thesector.

Significant work has been done in the past year by the high level implementation committee, which was established to progress these targets and the 215 action points in Food Harvest 2020. This committee, which is chaired by the Minister, Deputy Coveney, encompasses the Department and the State agencies: Teagasc, Enterprise lreland, Bord Bia, BIM and the Environmental Protection Agency.

In July, "Milestones for Success" was published. This is the first progress report on Food Harvest 2020 and indicated that action had commenced on 63% of these 215 actions. In addition, "Milestones for Success" outlines more than 40 actions which the stakeholders will deliver over the coming year. It also sets out interim milestones for 2013 and 2015 to monitor developments. To ensure progress, the Minister has set quarterly targets which he will monitor at each of the high level implementation committee meetings.

Many of these targets are directed at helping farmers to improve their efficiency, competitiveness and financial viability. Among the wide range of actions mentioned in milestones, I want to pick out a few examples which give a flavour of what is being done to assist farmers become competitive and improve on their market returns, that is, Greenfield dairy project, the dairy discussion groups and the Bord Bia beef and lamb quality assurance schemes.

The Greenfield dairy project research involves a collaborative project between Teagasc, the Agricultural Trust, Allied Irish Banks and Glanbia to assist farmers to develop and expand their enterprises as the dairy sector moves towards quota abolition in 2015. Using real-time data from a commercial farm, the project is providing a national blueprint for low-cost milk production. It allows farmers avail of online data on best practice on yields, finance, animal health, farm management and so on. This data is augmented by farm walks and is made available to all farmers through Teagasc's advisory network and the BETTER Farm programme.

Funding has been provided to support the establishment of dairy discussion groups to speed up the transfer of technology, knowledge and best practice. These groups place particular emphasis on the adoption of best practice with regard to grassland management, breeding and financial management. Available data indicates that participation in the groups has resulted in an average economic return of approximately €200 per hectare. The target for 2012 is to increase participation from 6,000 to 8,000 farmers.

The beef and lamb quality assurance schemes, in which more than 30,000 farmers participate, are designed to assist access to market and improve market returns to farmers. A new aspect of these schemes is the development and accreditation by the United Kingdom Carbon Trust of a beef carbon footprint model for Irish beef. This is being incorporated into our national beef and lamb quality assurance scheme and is the first such scheme to include environmental standards. During the next year it will be extended by environmental benchmarks on water and biodiversity as well as into other areas of the food chain.

I emphasise that these are just some of the actions which the Government is progressing to ensure the viability of farmers and all farming activities. Further details are available in the Food Harvest 2020 and Food Harvest 2020 Milestones for Success reports which are available on the Department's website. Since taking office, the Government has worked proactively to underpin the future development and prosperity of this vital sector and we remain fully committed to this task.

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. I commend him and his colleague the Minister, Deputy Coveney, on the work they are doing. No doubt we will come back to the findings. We need to set aside a significant amount of time, debate and thinking to ensure the viability of smaller farmers. It is crucial to keep a balance economically and socially in the country and it should be one of the Department's priorities as we negotiate our way through the minefield of the CAP reform. I acknowledge the absolute necessity of keeping our commercial farmers large and strong but we must not ignore the 50,000 or 60,000 people whose land holdings are not great but who have a major role to play in food production and the maintenance of the fabric of rural Ireland. It is a matter we will debate further in the coming months. I thank the Minister of State again for his work in the Department and his great commitment and hands-on approach to agriculture.

Jobs Initiative

I thank the Minister for her presence. I tabled this motion because I believe in internships. I realise there has been a good deal of criticism in the media in recent weeks about the programme but I believe in our having a national internship scheme. I am keen for the country to have an internship scheme because I have seen it implemented successfully throughout other European countries and the USA. It can be really positive. The reason behind the motion is my alarm at some of the placement notices which have been re-written in recent days. They made me think again. For example, one referred to a dynamic self-starter willing to work on their own. For me, this is not what an internship is about. I decided to talk to various organisations, employers and people currently on the programme to try to understand what was at the nub of the problem.

The programme in Ireland is aimed at small, medium and large companies. Many of the larger companies have experience of internships probably from their home base in the USA or European markets. As a country we are not as used to internships. This has highlighted the need for employers to be given guidance on exactly what constitutes an internship programme and how to ensure the person placed on the programme gets the necessary induction and on-the-job training. Employers should give a budget towards training of staff as appropriate or attendance at conferences or seminars depending on what they are doing. The employees will have been unemployed for some time and they probably will have something of a buzz because they now have a place and are now a part of something important. That is great but it lasts only a few weeks. How do we ensure there is an incentive and for the nine months they have ongoing upskilling, training and sharing? I am keen to ensure that the training programme is monitored. I welcome the Minister's commitment to evaluation. I have heard the Minister indicate that there will be continuous evaluation and I welcome that commitment. However, we must ensure that we amend the programme as we learn the lessons.

Mentoring is important and someone should be assigned within the company to each internee such that he or she has a role model, someone to strive for them and someone to show them the way. I welcome the programme. JobBridge is a good initiative on paper but I am fearful of how it is being translated on the ground. It has been shown up on the ground and it appears we do not have the experience or expertise within our companies. I am not anti-company and I believe in internships. Some companies are doing wonderfully but others do not have the experience and do not necessarily have someone in human resources. In these difficult times companies sometimes cut human resources services which are critical and those involved in internships are not getting the support. When introducing an internship scheme we must ensure the support is in place for the employers and those placed. A person in an internship should receive training so that when he or she leaves, he or she will know exactly what he or she is coming out with and what has been gained so that when he or she goes for interview for a great job he or she will understand how to translate those skills. One of the things we have seen in the market is the need for adaptability and flexibility of skills.

I tabled the matter on the Adjournment because I was concerned. I sought to ring an alarm bell and to ensure we take steps so that the internship programme works in the way the Minister intended. It should not simply be a job filler, it should be something a great deal more. As someone who comes from the community and voluntary sector I have seen how the community employment scheme became devalued over the years. My fear is that JobBridge will become devalued over time.

An internship should be something of which one is proud to have on one's curriculum vitae. It has a standard. An employer should know that if someone has done a JobBridge internship, they had to go through certain hoops and that there was a certain level of training and standards. My concerns relate to those aspects of the internship programme and this is why I have raised the matter.

I thank Senator van Turnhout for raising this important issue. Earlier today at 8 a.m. I was in Athlone launching a roadshow for internships. Many employers from the midlands were present. The Senator will be pleased to hear that we were discussing precisely the issues she has raised here. The JobBridge national internship scheme is the first time we in Ireland have tried a national internship scheme. The Government's aim in launching the jobs initiative in May was to begin the process of restoring confidence in Ireland's economy and to restore hope and confidence to the vast numbers of people who find themselves out of employment at present. These are great people who, because of the recession, cannot get an opportunity. We owe it to those people. If they are young people, we owe it to their parents, the mothers, to give them an opportunity to find a mechanism, in this very difficult economic situation in which the banks have left us, to get a foot on the employment ladder.

JobBridge is the first initiative operated under the new National Employment and Entitlement Service, a commitment contained in the programme for Government. The aim of JobBridge is to assist individuals to bridge the gap between unemployment and the world of work. JobBridge provides those seeking employment with an opportunity to undertake a six or nine month internship in a host organisation. Participants will benefit from learning new skills to complement their existing ones. On completing their internship, they will have improved their prospects of securing employment.

The international literature is very complimentary about internships being a positive opportunity for someone who has been unable to find a job. In the current labour market environment JobBridge provides individuals with a unique opportunity to secure work experience in a new field. The scheme enables people to break the cycle whereby unemployed persons are unable to get a job without experience, either as new entrants to the labour market after education or training or as an unemployed worker whose existing skills will not be appropriate to the type of jobs that will emerge in post-recession Ireland.

Since JobBridge was launched in July, it has achieved significant milestones. In excess of 2,600 internship opportunities are being advertised on the JobBridge website, www.jobbridge.ie. In addition, as of last Friday, a total of 1,124 interns had commenced their internships. About half of these are new interns, totally new and fresh to the scheme. The other half are people who were on the previous scheme, the work placement programme. Interns receive an enhancement payment to their social welfare payment of €50 per week, whereas the work placement programme did not give extra funding. I decided to allow people on the work placement programme to transfer to the internship scheme in order that they could benefit from the extra top-up payment. This can have an important impact on quality and recognises the contribution the intern is making.

In recent days there have been suggestions internships are seen to be low-skilled. Once an individual meets the eligibility requirements — to be more than three months on the live register — he or she is free to apply for an internship, irrespective of whether he or she is an early school leaver or a highly qualified graduate. In the United Kingdom there are quite famous people who started out as interns. Three come to mind immediately: Mr. Cameron, Mr. Clegg and Mr. Osborne. Of course, they came from a very high level stratum of society. They were in the lucky position of having family and friends who were in a position to recommend them for internships. We are offering internships to everybody, regardless of whether they live in a council estate or have a PhD. It is important to bear this in mind. We are trying to create opportunities, not only for those who have circles of friends but for people in every town and county. The majority of employers are good employers and do not wish to abuse their employees. As a labour market activation measure JobBridge has a key role to play in offering very low skilled, as well as highly skilled, people an opportunity to improve their skill levels and connection with the labour market, with the aim of improving their chances of securing employment in the future.

It should also be noted that internships in the hospitality sector which was the subject of media attention make up only about 1% of the offers currently available on the JobBridge website. I was delighted that, at my request, this morning Fáilte Ireland presented a resource guide for companies in the tourism and hospitality sector with guidelines as to what is a good quality internship. It deals with all of the points the Senator was making such as mentoring, support and guidance, setting goals and providing a quality experience. It also refers, vitally, to the possibility of a company making space for an intern on a more permanent basis or giving him or her a very good reference in order that he or she can compete for the next job.

We have been criticised by employers who cannot get onto the scheme, while some people believe some of the internships ought not to be available. We have refused large numbers of would-be internships and gone back to employers to tell them they must look at what an internship is. We are also hoping to work with employers' organisations. We started in the hospitality industry. Fáilte Ireland produced the very good guide which is on its website.

Host organisations must declare in their applications that they are not displacing an employee and that they have no vacancy in the specific area in which an internship is offered. The JobBridge team check all applications against recent vacancies advertised on the FÁS Jobs Ireland website. If the JobBridge team suspects that displacement may be an issue, it can liaise with regional FÁS management to find out more information on the company. There is also a whistleblowing feature which allows any individual to inform FÁS of potential abuses of the internship scheme and all such cases are investigated. A variety of measures have been introduced in order that the internship does not allow the intern to work unsupervised. Some employers have been surprised at this measure and complained publicly. If someone is required to run a shop on his or her own, that is not an internship.

The intern must not displace an employee and must accrue significant experience throughout the entire internship. Internship opportunities have been removed from the JobBridge website in cases where companies had previously advertised them as paid employment positions. A standard internship agreement must be signed by the intern and the host organisation. This agreement clearly stipulates the terms of the internship. To ensure compliance with the scheme the Department of Social Protection and the employment services division of FÁS are monitoring internships to ensure they are of sufficient quality and that both host organisations and interns are abiding by the spirit and rules of the scheme. This involves the monitoring of monthly compliance reports that are required to be submitted by the host organisation verifying that the internship is proceeding as set out in the standard internship agreement. In addition, contact with the host organisations and interns, including random site visits, will take place shortly as part of the process.

The scheme has been on offer for only ten weeks and internships have only begun in recent weeks. Like a job offer, an internship takes a while to negotiate. As I said, a whistleblowing feature is built into the programme.

I thank the Minister. I believe she understands I raised this issue in a constructive manner. The example she gives of the Fáilte Ireland guidelines is exactly what I am talking about. However, that sector represents, as she said, a figure of only1%. We need to give such guidance sector by sector, employer by employer and host organisation by host organisation. In raising this matter I wanted to ring an alarm bell in order that we would have a planned programme of internships that would benefit everyone involved. Most employers are striving to do their best, but many need guidance. I hope the Minister, in carrying out the evaluation, will consider compelling host organisations to put a training budget in place to support the planned JobBridge programme.

The Seanad adjourned at 7.20 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 15 September 2011.
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