The Department provides a free recruitment service to employers through the Jobs-Ireland website (www.jobsireland.ie). The purpose of this service is to support employers to increase employment and to provide a mechanism through which jobseekers can search for job openings and submit applications.
An important feature of Jobs-Ireland is that, unlike some other recruitment websites, the Department seeks to validate the jobs offered by confirming that the advertiser is a bona-fide employer. Towards this end, all employers who wish to avail of this service are required to register their company prior to using the service and are issued a service level understanding which sets out the terms and conditions of use of the service.
All vacancies advertised on the Jobs-Ireland service are advertised in good faith on behalf of the employer following the registration process. The Department does not seek information from employers when they are submitting individual vacancy notices about previous company closures or redundancies. In practice, companies may be operating in a number of geographic areas or in different business sectors. Accordingly, some companies may be simultaneously hiring in one area or sector, while reducing numbers in a different areas or sector. This means that it would be very difficult to isolate opportunistic behaviour of the type referred to by the Deputy while at the same time providing an easy to use and accessible service to the large majority of bona fide employers and jobseekers.
The Jobs-Ireland service has not received any complaints from members of the public or employers engaging in the practice the Deputy has outlined. I would encourage the Deputy to bring any such cases that he is aware of to the attention of the Department and they will be investigated. If the companies concerned are found to be operating in breach of the service level understanding or of employment law related to recruitment they will be barred from using the Jobs-Ireland service.
I would also bring the Deputy's attention to the Workplace Relations Customer Services function established by the Government under the aegis of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. This service amalgamates the information services previously provided by the National Employment Rights Authority and the general enquiries functions of the Equality Tribunal, the Rights Commissioner Service and the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Since 3rd January 2012 all complaints related to employment issues should be channelled through this service, where they will be registered, acknowledged and referred to the National Employment Rights Authority or another relevant adjudication body.
