Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 September 2013
101. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will extend the closing date for accepting applications for JobBridge in the education sector following her announcement of extending the duration of internships; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39859/13]
View answer107. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection the policy rationale underpinning the decision to expand JobBridge internships to 18 months. [39908/13]
View answer108. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide a list of all employers that have availed of JobBridge to date; the number of interns each has taken on; the duration of each of these internships. [39909/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 101, 107 and 108 together.
On 18th September, I announced that the maximum cumulative duration of internships would be extended to 18 months. The maximum duration of individual internships will remain 9 months. Individuals will be able to avail of up to 3 internships. Individuals will be permitted to undertake a maximum of one internship with a particular Host Organisation. These changes reflect both the recommendations contained in the independent evaluation of JobBridge published by the Taoiseach and myself on 1st May, 2013, and a significant demand from interns and other individuals made directly to me. This change will be of significant benefit to jobseekers as it will provide jobseekers who may be dissatisfied with their jobBridge placement more flexibility in finding a suitable alternative placement.
However, those changes have not yet come into force. When they do come into force it will be announced on the Home Page of the JobBridge website www.jobbridge.ie. In relation to Education Sector internships, Host organisations can apply for internships in the Education sector, for the current academic year, up to 6th December 2013. This provides sufficient lead-in time for these organisations to advertise appropriate internship opportunities.
At 19th September, there had been 20,912 placements since the scheme commenced. Some 91% of all these placements have had an advertised duration of 9 months. In many cases, internships finish early however, I am encouraged to advise that 63% of all internships are completed early due to the intern securing paid employment. This is a very positive outcome.
At 19th September, 5,446 individuals were actually on internships and 3,061 internship opportunities were advertised on the JobBridge website. A total of 9,965 host organisations have participated in JobBridge since the Scheme commenced. Participation by Host Organisations on the Scheme is voluntary. It is not feasible to provide a full listing of these companies in this PQ response.
The following information was provided under Standing Order 40A
There are approximately 10,000 host organisations which have participated in the JobBridge scheme and these organisations have hosted over 20,000 interns whose internships lasted from a period of a few days up to nine months. The delivery of the information requested by the Deputy would require a manual review of, and reporting on, all of these individual internships and is such that, if it was to be satisfied, it would cause a serious and significant deterioration in the provision of customer service by the JobBridge unit, to the detriment of service to jobseekers.
Separate to the issue of the feasibility of complying with the request is the issue of client confidentiality. Host organisations participate in the scheme on a voluntary basis and receive no payment or other benefit from the State in respect of their participation in the scheme. I believe that in these circumstances the organisations concerned have a legitimate expectation that their participation on the scheme will remain confidential unless we seek their prior permission to publicise their involvement.
In this regard, and notwithstanding that the JobBridge scheme is the most successful scheme of its type in Europe with a progression to paid employment rate of over 60%, a number of host organisations have suffered from intimidation as a result of the publicity surrounding their participation in JobBridge. In consequence a number of host organisations have withdrawn from the scheme for that reason. Accordingly, I believe that the effective operation of the scheme, and the employment prospects of interns, could be significantly impaired if all the names of host organisations were to be released.
The Deputy was provided with the fullest overall figures at the time and has been informed of the operation of the scheme in accordance with the Department’s accountability to the Oireachtas.
