Tánaiste Joan Burton has said that the practice of certain schools seeking cleaners, special needs assistants or teachers through JobBridge was “not the best use of the scheme”.
Responding to new data which show that such positions were being advertised through the Government- backed internship scheme, Ms Burton nevertheless said that it was matter for the governing body of each school to decide whether it would use JobBridge.
"Schools are governed by their boards and it's a matter for each individual school whether or not they want to use JobBridge," said the Labour Party leader and Minister for Social Protection.
Addressing the specific disclosure that a cleaning job in a school had been advertised, she said: “I don’t think that’s the best use of JobBridge because it has to be a developmental opportunity.”
She said she had visited schools where there had been very positive internship programmes under JobBridge, such as developing libraries and social media.
She said a group in her department closely monitored the scheme to ensure the internships were appropriate and provided developmental opportunities.
She set out part of the rationale of JobBridge, saying it helped those with gaps on the CVs who had been out of work for more than six months or had not been doing something interesting.
Ms Burton was speaking at the launch of Unlocking Opportunity, a report prepared by leading Irish corporations that sets out a "business case for taking climate action in Ireland".
No abuse of scheme
Ms Burton’s Labour colleague, Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan, has said she wants to be sure there is no abuse of the JobBridge scheme. Ms O’Sullivan said she would engage with the Tánaiste to make sure the principles were maintained.
“I certainly want to be sure that there is no abuse in any way of the JobBridge scheme,” she said.
New data shows that teachers, special needs assistants and school cleaner positions have been advertised on JobBridge.
The scheme was designed not to displace workers but to provide job opportunities, Ms O’Sullivan said.
However, she said the Department of Education could not tell schools that they should not attempt to hire in this way. “It’s something that I will be examining to see on what basis schools are using JobBridge.”
She said it was monitored by the Department of Social Protection, which had in the past removed some advertised positions because they were not appropriate.
