Backgrounder: JobBridge controversial from the start

JobBridge was established in 2011 to provide work experience opportunities for unemployed people.

From the outset, it attracted criticism and as it progressed, it became increasingly controversial.

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton announced the scheme in June 2011, saying there would be 5,000 places and the scheme would offer many people the chance to get a foot on the ladder after training, apprenticeship or graduation.

“There is strong interest in participating in an initiative such as JobBridge,” she said. “We have already received 500 expressions of interest from organisations offering approximately 1,000 internship opportunities.”

The scheme involved a six or nine-month internship for people unemployed for at least three months. Applicants retained their social welfare payments, which were topped up by €50 a week.

From the start, there were critics. Detractors said the scheme ran the risk of introducing an “internship free-for-all” in Ireland and questioned how the Government would ensure internships wouldn’t displace employees and impede job growth.

They warned there was a risk firms would look to JobBridge interns rather than hiring and would use it for short-term cheap labour.

By September 2011, concerns had been raised about supermarket giant Tesco, which offered JobBridge internships for “customer assistants” who would fill shelves and ensure “customers would not have to queue”.

Companies banned

In 2012, the scheme was expanded to 6,000 places, to allow applications from those who receive one parent family payments or disability allowance. By then, 4,670 participants were on placements and 1,876 posts were advertised on the scheme’s website.

By April 2013, 15 companies had been banned from the scheme for replacing paid employees with unpaid interns. The Department of Social Protection was investigating complaints about 200 companies, including a number of crèches, and there were claims in the Dáil of widespread abuse. Teaching positions were also advertised on the JobBridge website.

Despite these concerns, the duration of internships was extended in September 2013, from a maximum of nine months to 18 months.

Figures showed by then, of 228 JobBridge interns taken on in 14 Government departments, none were retained. And 5,000 interns had been taken on in the public sector by November that year.

Last year, a study by the National Youth Council of Ireland found the scheme required significant reform. Though participants were provided with work experience, they had financial difficulties, received insufficient mentoring and there was lack of clarity regarding their rights and responsibilities, it found.

In 2015, the Department of Justice used the scheme to hire lawyers. And among the posts advertised that year were a microbiology scientist, a dental laboratory technician, and a restaurant supervisor for a “very busy” 120-seater establishment.

Earlier this year, it emerged the scheme had been used to fill hundreds of positions for State agencies and multinational corporations.

The most frequent user was the Health Service Executive, with 399 interns over the five years since the scheme began, followed by the GAA, with 249 interns and global IT firm Hewlett-Packard, who had 176 interns under the scheme. Positions ranging from legal executive to deli assistant were filled, and the HSE used it for 67 assistant psychological positions.