Department of Social Protection defends JobBridge amid criticism

The Department of Social Protection has strongly defended the JobBridge scheme amid calls for it to be scrapped.

The calls follow a series of reports criticising the operation of the scheme. Yesterday, it was revealed that the number of people dropping out of the national internship programme early each year is almost as high as those who are completing the scheme.

This followed reports that JobBridge had been used to fill hundreds of positions in State agencies and corporations such as the HSE, the GAA and Hewlett-Packard.