Skip to main content
Normal View

National Internship Scheme Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 January 2013

Tuesday, 29 January 2013

Questions (185)

Seán Crowe

Question:

185. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide the number and duties of jobbridge participants which Government Departments availed of since the scheme commenced; and the number who subsequently got full-time employment in the civil service. [4063/13]

View answer

Written answers

The JobBridge Scheme has made significant progress since it came into operation on the 1st July 2011. 13,960 internships have commenced as at the 24th January 2013 with 5,563 participants currently on an internship and 1,888 internship opportunities advertised on www.jobbridge.ie as at that date. I am pleased to advise the Deputy that the issue of placements and progression has been comprehensively addressed in the recent interim independent evaluation report compiled by Indecon Economic Consultants (published on 5th October 2012 and available on www.welfare.ie). The Report found that 21% of all placements to date have been in public sector organisations including 188 placements in Government Departments. It is not feasible to list the duties of all such placements as you may appreciate within this response. However, by way of example internships included working as part of a team with IT applications, general office administration, coordination of event organisation, planning and logistics, communication skills, research and policy development processes not to mention Digital Media development.

The breadth of experience to be gained from these diverse opportunities is of invaluable benefit to participating interns. This is further supported by the recent Indecon interim report on the scheme which found that 89% of interns stated that JobBridge allowed them to develop new skills. These internships are clearly providing skills enhancement to participating interns. This is further reflected in the Indecon analysis which found that 49% of all those who completed placements in the public sector (24% in the case of Government Departments) are currently in paid employment.

As the Deputy will appreciate, given the current moratorium, Government Departments cannot offer full-time employment at the end of an internship period, in a way that Host Organisations in other sectors can. This does not mean that Government Departments should be excluded from assisting the jobs strategy. They are still providing significant and in some cases challenging job experience opportunities to persons in need of such opportunities and better prepare them for either ere-entry to the jobs market or a change in job direction. I am delighted to advise that other reported benefits included that the scheme helps boost participant’s self-confidence, assists in identifying job opportunities suitable to their abilities, keeps them close to the job market, and helps participants to establish contacts/networks. The Programme has had positive effects on subsequent employment chances for participants who in the absence of the Programme would not have secured employment. The findings of the Indecon study recently completed suggest that the Programme has been an effective labour market intervention in achieving movement off the Live Register.

Question No. 186 answered with Question No. 147.
Top
Share