Parliamentary Question addressed to the Minister for Social Protection

To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an update on her statement in Dáil Éireann (details supplied) that she would seek to make graduate architects eligible for the Jobbridge scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter?

Reply

The National Internship Scheme, JobBridge, was launched on 1st July 2011. It provides internship opportunities of either 6 or 9 months for unemployed individuals at all skills levels. The aim of JobBridge is to assist individuals in breaking the cycle where they are unable to get a job without experience. It provides them with an opportunity to gain valuable experience, relevant knowledge and skills within a working environment. The Scheme is open to organisations in the private, public and community or voluntary sectors.

The JobBridge Scheme has made significant progress to-date since it came into operation on the 1st July 2011. 11,010 internships have commenced to date with 5,082 participants currently on an internship as at 11th October 2012 and 2,253 opportunities presently advertised on www.JobBridge.ie .

As you are aware given the success of the programme, I asked my Department to review the criteria for availing of the programme to ensure that the scheme gives opportunities to as many as possible so that they can benefit from the success of the programme. As part of this broader review process the scheme criteria were widened to include One Parent Family Payment and Disability Allowance recipients who have been eligible to participate on JobBridge as of the 28th May 2012.

Currently, the JobBridge Scheme requires that an internship should not be part of a training contract (e.g. as part of a training course for a professional qualification from the Law Society or one of the Accountancy Bodies or Architects). In addition, the programme currently limits access to full time third level education during the time they are with the host organisation.

The rationale behind this approach is that such training contracts with professional bodies come with terms and conditions including remuneration. In such circumstances, it is not appropriate to use an initiative such as the JobBridge scheme when training contracts are in place.

However, it must also be articulated that the Scheme is open to Host Organisations to provide internship opportunities for qualified architects. Furthermore, I can advise that existing terms and conditions of the Scheme including eligibility criteria will be re-examined as part of the independent evaluation of the Scheme currently being undertaken by Indecon International Economic Consultants.

This evaluation will assess the design, delivery and impact of the JobBridge Scheme, it will provide details of the nature of the work experience of the participants; a measurement of the relevance of that experience to the labour market and progression into employment. When published the report will also present recommendations on how the Scheme might be improved. It is at this stage that further consideration will be given to amending the terms and conditions of the Scheme.

It is worth noting that there are eight architect internship vacancies currently advertised on the JobBridge website www.jobbridge.ie