Intern scheme to help jobless

A national internship scheme has been launched to give up to 5,000 unemployed people critical work experience.

Participants in JobBridge will receive an extra €50 a week to their social welfare entitlements as they join companies within the private, voluntary and community sectors.

Joan Burton, Minister for Social Protection, said the scheme will offer many people the chance to get up to nine months work experience and 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.”

Most recent figures showed 440,947 people signed on the Live Register last month, with the number languishing on the dole for a year or more past 160,000.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the Government was committed to getting Ireland back to work.

“I believe that we need a collective effort by all sectors of society to tackle the challenges facing the country,” he said.

“JobBridge is just such a collective effort – with the goal of ensuring that we offer people the opportunity to gain work experience through a quality internship.”

A steering group on the national internship scheme was chaired by Martin Murphy, managing director of HP Ireland.

It has also been endorsed by several leading Irish and multinational companies including Sean O’Driscoll, chief executive of Glen Dimplex, Dawn Foods, KPMG, Arthur Cox, Mercury Engineering, Hertz, Hertz Shared Services Centre, ESB, Bord na Mona, Tesco, PricewaterhouseCoopers, A&L Goodbody and Aer Lingus.

Minister for Small Business John Perry said the scheme provides "valuable opportunities for both the interns getting real work experience and the companies taking part, who will benefit from the talent and enthusiasm of the interns and add real value to their organisations.”

"The creation of good quality internships, spread throughout the country, is a great way to support both indigenous enterprises and also ensure that these SMEs have access to well trained, experienced people who are ready to take up job opportunities when they are created," said Minister Perry.

Employers' group IBEC, also welcoming the initiative, said it would be actively promoting the scheme to its entire membership base, in every region and across all sectors of industry that it represents.

"The success of work placement programmes depends on the willingness of employers and potential participants to work together," said IBEC Director General Danny McCoy.

"Our experience suggests that many interns eventually go on to gain employment with the sponsoring companies."

Patricia Callan of the Small Firms Association said the scheme was a "win/win" for both employers and jobseekers.

"The interns will be given the opportunity to develop their on-the-job experience or indeed keep their skills current," she said.

"They will in turn add value to a small business that will hopefully grow because of their new ideas and expertise, enabling them to turn internships into real jobs over time.”

Gary Redmond, president of the Union of Students in Ireland, said he was encouraged that the Government was taking proactive steps to curb the jobs crisis.

“Hopefully this is the first of many initiatives that will allow those struggling to find employment get back on their feet,” he said.

“With over 150,000 people expected to emigrate by 2015, we require more innovative initiatives like ’Job Bridge’ that will allow people to remain connected to the labour market and not falling victim to long-term unemployment.”