merrion street

The Department of Social Protection has today (30May 2013) confirmed that none of the three childcare facilities currently being investigated by the Garda Siochana and Health Service Executive on foot of the RTE Prime Time programme will be permitted to access the JobBridge national internship scheme pending the outcome of those investigations. In addition, access to JobBridge will not be available to any of the three firms regardless of location.

It is important to note that there have never been any JobBridge interns in any of the locations referred to in the Prime Time programme.

Two of the firms have not previously placed any JobBridge interns. The remaining firm placed one JobBridge intern but not in the location featured in RTE Prime Time. This placement finished in April 2013.

Childcare placements:

JobBridge general guidelines stipulate that the host organisation must be fully compliant with current workplace health and safety and all other legal and regulatory requirements; and that the host organisation must comply with Garda vetting procedures where required.

Control and monitoring:

JobBridge is subject to strict control measures to protect the intern and ensure the integrity of the scheme. These measures seek to ensure that the internship provides appropriate training and development experience; that suitable mentoring and support is provided to the intern; and that the internship does not displace an existing position.

To ensure that both the host organisation and intern are abiding by the spirit and the rules of the scheme, the Department of Social Protection undertakes ongoing monitoring of internships. This includes the conducting of random monitoring site visits.

The Department has conducted over 2,100 monitoring visits to-date and 98% of these visits have been of a satisfactory nature. Remedial action is taken in cases of non-compliance. Any individual who suspects that an internship may be in breach of the scheme’s criteria - including quality issues, lack of appropriate mentoring and support, or cases of suspected displacement - may contact the JobBridge team. All such reports are fully investigated.

JobBridge delivers valuable internship opportunities for jobseekers and independent research has demonstrated it is an effective and efficient scheme. The independent evaluation, by Indecon Economic Consultants, demonstrated that 61% of interns who completed their placements subsequently progressed to paid employment.