Job Bridge didn’t have enough checks to stop exploitation

Employers were able to hire Job Bridge staff without the Department of Social Protection validating that the intern position wasn’t replacing a real job, according to an internal audit.

Nobody in the Department of Social Protection was routinely checking companies’ applications to hire interns under Job Bridge against recent redundancy payments made by these same applicant companies.

Job Bridge, which was set up at the height of the recession to give work experience to the unemployed, was shut down by Minister Leo Varadkar in May of this year.