Firms face payments for trainees

Employers may be asked to pay social welfare payments for trainees working in their firm under a Government- backed scheme which is placing two in every three interns in jobs.

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has admitted the Government is still battling to reduce unemployment as new figures showed the number of people signing on the Live Register fell by just 100 in April to 426,900.

She said 17,000 people had passed through the JobBridge scheme, which places the jobless in training in firms, since its inception in 2011.